Beginnings in the Face of Evil
by potatochip10
Summary: It is just a normal monster in Sunnydale, until Willow realizes she has a secret. Better than it sounds, I promise. Xander/Willow pairing. Joss Whedon owns all of this! I'm just writing a fanfic!
1. Chapter 1

***Spoiler Alert***

 **This takes place after everyone finds out that Dawn is the key in season 5. Willow and Xander are together in this. As much as I ship Willow and Tara, she is non existent in this AU.**

 ***Willow Point of View***

Dawn is the _key_! How? It feels like we've all known her forever. I mean, we _have_ known her forever. We have so many memories about everything. Christmases and birthdays and Halloweens. I mean, how could it not be true?

It has to be true. I mean, it has to.

All of these thoughts and more were running through my head as I walked down the lonely street.

"It just doesn't make sense." I whispered to myself as I breathed in the cold air. "It doesn't make sense!"

"Talking about Dawn?"

I heard his voice before he reached me

.

"Yeah." I told Xander. "I just don't get it."

"I don't really either. It's just, it's _Dawn._ Our Dawnnie. How can she not be real?"

"She is real Xander." I said firmly, trying to make sense of it myself.

"Just because she's a key doesn't make her not a person."

"But doesn't it?"

"No Xander!" I almost scream at him. "She is real! Just because she's not quite human doesn't make her any different. I mean, she is still Dawn."

"Yeah, I know. It's just strange." he tells me. I can see how his brow is creased, and it makes sense, as he is definitely doing more thinking then usual.

"So, Wil. The night is still young. Should we go kill some vamps, or party hard at the Bronze, or party hard at the house?"

"Xander, no. I mean, I think I just want to go home and think for a little while."

"Suit yourself." he mutters before he grabs my hand and gives me a quick peck on the lips. Then he turns around and runs away.

"Imma be at the Bronze!" he yells, as he leaves.

I give him a quick smile, and then continue walking in the direction of our apartment. I then slightly quicken my pace as I realise it's night, and I shouldn't linger unless I want to become a vampire's 2am snack.

….

About ten minutes later, I reach the house. It's then I realize how thoroughly exhausted I am from the day's events. I slowly pull open the door, and begin to walk into the living room, when a huge wave of nausea hits me. I veer off my track and bolt to the left as fast as I can. I barely have time to fling open the bathroom door and lift up the toilet seat before all of my dinner comes up.

Great. On top of all of this, I have food poisoning. That is amazing.

"Harjem." I whisper as I wave my hand around my chest. A burst of green light appears and slowly sinks into my skin. That should help.

Then I force myself to get up, wipe off the toilet, and I stagger into the dimly lit bedroom.

I lower myself into the blankets, and let my body be cradled by their warmth.

"Why don't we carry blankets around with us everywhere?" I mutter as I drift off into a deep sleep. "Then we could feel this cozy wherever."

…

I suddenly jerk away and sprint as fast as possible into the bathroom.

"God!" I scream, between hurls. I hate this so much. I've always felt like throwing up was the worst of all the sicknesses. It's such a horrible feeling.

I suddenly then feel my hair being lifted up off my neck.

"You okay Wil?" I hear him say, as his breath tickles my skin.

"Yeah," I gasp, "just a little bug. No biggie. Nothing a few spells can't fix." I get up and flush the toilet, and then proceed to brush my teeth to get this horrible taste out of my mouth.

It's then that I notice Xander's reflection in the mirror. He hasn't stopped staring at me since I got up.

"Xander?" I ask as I spit

"Hmm?" he mutters

"Xander!" I say a bit more forcefully as I turn to face him. "Why are you staring?"

"I'm not." He tells me, looking away.

"Yeah. You are." I place my hands around his face and turn him to look at me. "What's up?"

"I just don't like to see you in pain Wil, you know that." He says, sheepishly.

"I know, but I'm not in pain. I'm fin-." My statement gets disproven just then by me again rushing to the toilet an emptying out the last remains of my stomach. I can feel Xander rubbing circles on my back.

"You know, maybe we should get you to a doctor." he tells me.

"Xander," I say, my head still in the toilet,"It's just a bug. People get sick. I don't need a doctor."

I pick up my head, and flush the toilet. I get up and wash my hands.

"Come on." I tell him, as I grab his wrist. "Let's go eat."

He gives me a grin and follows me out of the bathroom.

"You know, I wouldn't think you'd be hungry after that massive hurling." He tells me.

"You'd be surprised what the lack of food can do to a human body." I tell him.

"And plus, I've never been able to resist food you've made before."

"I never said anything about making breakfast." He tells me, with that giant lopsided smile.

"So your telling me that you couldn't whip up some waffles for your sick girlfriend?" I ask him, giving him the most pouty face I could muster.

"Fine." He tells me, as he walks into the kitchen, grinning all the way.


	2. Chapter 2

***Willow Point Of View***

Once again I have to leave my place on the couch and sprint towards the bathroom. This is the worst. This is going to be the seventh day of this stomach flu, and it's really starting to take a toll. I am now constantly really dehydrated, hungry, and nauseous.

When I wipe my mouth and re-enter the living room, I can see Xander staring at me from the couch. He has been doing this a lot recently.

"What?" I ask him annoyed, as I sit back down next to him.

"Wil, you should really go to a-"

I then cut him off before he can finish his sentence.

"Xander, I am a freaking Wicca. I think I would know if something was wrong with me. This is a stomach bug! It's been going around at the college. I'm okay."

"I know, but-"

Suddenly, I stand up.

"You know what?" I tell him, "I think I've been spending too much time in the house. A little fresh air could do some good. I think I'm going to walk down to the Magic Box to see what's up."

I then gather my bag as quickly as possible, and head out the door.

I think I was right though, about the fresh air. As I exit the building, it hits me with a cool gush, and I immediately feel better.

The sun was shining very brightly though, the sky looked unnaturally blue, and the grass looked very green. I guess this is what happens when you stay inside for four days.

I begin to move my feet in the direction of the shop. I almost make it there too, before my stomach decides it's not having it. When I feel my nausea arise, I take off like a jet, and sprint as fast as I can to the shop. I rip the door open, and barely make it to the bathroom, but I do.

After I get up, and wash my hands, I can feel someone behind me.

"Willow?" I hear my best friend speak, "What's wrong?"

I turn around to see Buffy standing right behind me. She is wearing a white tank top and bike shorts so I can tell that she has been training.

"Is this that bug? It's still going on?"

I give a little nod, and I go sit with her on one of the soft cushy chairs in the main shop.

"I don't really know why." I tell her. "I've run all of the tests. All of the spells for the serious things have come back negative, so it's just a little sickness."

Buffy gives a little nod, but I can tell she has something on her mind. Before she can get it out, I ask her, "How's Dawn?"

"Oh, she's fine." Buffy tells me. "I mean, she hasn't been taking the whole 'I'm a key' thing well, but besides that, fine."

"What?" I ask her, extremely confused. "Dawn knows she's the key?"

"Yeah." Buffy tells me, looking strange. "Don't you remember? Dawn ran away and we had everyone search for her until she showed up at that hospital. Xander was actually the one to get her. Didn't he tell you?"

"No, he didn't." I whisper. How could he not tell me something like this? I mean, I know that he has been babying me because of the whole sickness thing, but this is a huge piece of information to withhold. Especially when I could have done something to help.

Buffy could clearly see the hurt on my face, because she quickly stammered, "Oh, well, I'm sure he was just thinking of you're wellbeing. I wouldn't take it too hard out on him. I shouldn't have said anything. I'm sorry."

"No." I tell her, feeling deeply betrayed. "It's good that you did."

I then pause for a moment, before adding "I don't know why he's been acting so weird. I've been sick before."

When I say this, I can see Buffy's face droop down a little, and she regains the position she held earlier when we talked about this.

"What?" I ask her

"Well, Wil, you do know that there is the possibility that this is more than just a little stomach bug?"

"What do you mean?" I ask her. "I've run all the tests."

"Are you sure about that?" Buffy asks me, with a pointed expression on her face.

That's when it hits me.

"No, Buffy. I can't be pregnant!" I tell her that as confidently as I can, but I can feel my insides quaking at her words. How could I have not thought of that? Xander clearly had. It's why he was acting so weird. But, I can't be pregnant. It's not possible. I mean, it is, but, no.

"Well Wil, maybe you should check." Buffy tells me

"No." I say, failing to hide the panic in my voice.

I am suddenly startled by the sound of a banging door.

"Ah Willow." I hear Giles say as he enters the room. "What a nice surprise. You must be feeling better then if you are here."

"Yes." I lie quickly as I begin to pick up my things. "Very. I can't really talk long Giles, I just came in for a short visit."

"Wil!" I hear Buffy say as I stand up and begin walking away.

"I have to go Buffy." I stammer as I half run, half walk away, "Thanks for the chat." I fling open the door and run out before waiting for a response.

There is no way I can be pregnant. No way. I'm in college. I am helping a slayer. I am constantly in danger. I can't raise a child. It's just a bug. It's _just_ a bug.

I feel my feet stop short before my brain can register what I'm doing. I then run into the closest alleyway, and rest against the wall. Before I can control myself, I hear my lips utter the words, "Giri Ulvani". I just need to make sure it's not real. I can feel the warm heat of the pulse as it travels from my legs, up my torso, and down my spine. The sound of a faint buzzing fills my ears. Then, I can feel a single word etch itself with red ink onto my forearm. With a shaking hand, I slowly lower my head to look at the word. It reads, 'PREGNANT'.


	3. Chapter 3

**Recap: I feel my feet stop short before my brain can register what I'm doing. I then run into the closest alleyway, and rest against the wall. Before I can control myself, I hear my lips utter the words, "Giri Ulvani". I just need to make sure it's not real. I can feel the warm heat of the pulse as it travels from my legs, up my torso, and down my spine. The sound of a faint buzzing fills my ears. Then, I can feel a single word etch itself with red ink onto my forearm. With a shaking hand, I slowly lower my head to look at the word. It reads, 'PREGNANT'.**

 ***Willow Point of View***

I can feel my feet give way before I can even register what I am seeing. No. This can't be. How could I be pregnant? This isn't the right time. It can't be. I can't be.

"But you are" I can hear a little voice say in the back of my head. As much as I don't want to hear it, and as much as I don't want to acknowledge it, I have to. I have to because it's true.

"I'm pregnant." I hear the words come out of my mouth. It all sounds to real. I don't even try to cover up me then rolling over, and retching into the brush.

"I'm pregnant." I say again.

It hurts. It all hurts too much. It hurts knowing that I've failed. I've failed myself, Xander, our friends, our family, and most of all, I've hurt this poor baby growing inside of me. It's all so unreal. How could I be carrying a child?

The world starts to close around me. I am vaguely aware of the sound of someone calling me, but all I know is that the colors are too bright. And then they aren't. Then all I can see is black.

…..

I can vaguely hear voices muttering in the distance.

"What the hell happened?" a low voice asks

"I don't know Xander." says another, sounding a bit higher than the last.

"She was just lying there unconscious."

"She was just lying there unconscious?" the low voice, probably a man's, repeats,"You find Willow lying in a bush and all you can say is, 'She was just lying there unconscious?' Is she hurt?"

"No, I don't think so." I hear the second voice say. I think it's Buffy's. It sounds a lot like her.

"So what the _hell_ happened?" The man was getting angrier every second, and I wanted to reach out, and hold his hand, and coax him back down, but I couldn't move.

"Xander," Buffy said apprehensively.

Oh, so that's who the second voice is. Xander. *Idiot Willow*.

"WHAT?" I can hear Xander yell.

"Xander, you should look at her arm." she almost whispers

"What is wrong with her arm?" Xander yells back

"Nothing." Buffy says, soothing him, "Just, look."

I can hear Xander give a little exasperated sigh before he moves closer to me. I can just feel my sleeve move up my skin, until I hear a small gasp, and he stumbles back.

I desperately want to see what's wrong, before I hear a small voice say,"A spell?"

Then there's silence again.

"I just-" Xander mutters,"We were so careful. How could she be pregnant?"

That word sends a bullet through my chest. I completely forgot about the reason I was here. I was pregnant. I can feel my body give a shake as the sound of a small sob escapes my lips.

Then there's a small rush of wind, and I can feel Xander's big warm hand on my face.

"Wil?" he asks me

I can feel my body begin to rack with sobs, as I abruptly wake up from whatever sleep trance I was in. I can't stop crying. Everything is too much.

"Willow." I can hear him say. I don't respond. I can't respond.

I then feel my body being pushed over as he crawls up next to me and wraps me in a warm hug. We lay there for who knows how long, until I fall back into the dark clutches of sleep.

….

I wake up a few hours later with a pain in my leg. As I groggily open my eyes, I can see it bent at a very strange angle. I move it about an inch, which is all I can really do, and then just stare up at the ceiling in defeat. I am suddenly aware of a form next to me, and I roll on my side to see Xander. He looks so cute when he sleeps. His hair is plastered on his forehead, and his eyebrows are tilted in a downward angle. He has a slight smile playing on his lips, and his breath is gently sending ripples in his shirt.

My eyes then wander down to my arm, and I can see that my sleeve has been rolled up, revealing the word, barely beginning to fade away. The one word that will soon ruin everything I have ever built.

My stomach then gives a small rumble, and so I slowly get out of bed, as to not wake up the sleeping person next to me.

I walk into the dimly lit kitchen, and open up the fridge. There really isn't a lot in there, but I manage to find the ingredients for some scrambled eggs. I get a bowl, and crack two inside, when I again start to feel nauseous.

"No." I tell myself, "You will not throw up." Instead, I run over to the sink, and force a glass of water down my throat. It helps a litte, but not a lot.

So, I return to my eggs, and manage to only burn them a little bit. As I take the first bite, I hear the shuffling of feet behind me. I turn my head to see Xander standing in the entrance way.

"Hey." I say

"Hey." He replies, and before I know what's happening he has me pulled into a tight hug. As much as I try to stay strong, I can feel myself crumbling into his arms, and a tear escapes my closed eyelids.

"I'm so sorry." I tell him.

"No, Wil. Please don't be." He replies, with tears of his own.

"It's all my fault." I sob into his neck.

"No. It's both of ours, and we tried. These things just happen sometimes."

"I just," I slowly back away as I speak, "I don't know what to do. What are we going to do? How are we supposed to raise a child? We're just kids, Xander."

"Yeah Wil, we are." He replies, looking directly into my eyes. "And I'm scared too. I have no idea what we're supposed to do, but I know that I have you. And, since the beginning of time, we have been through so much together, and this is just one more obstacle. We can do it."

"Positive?" I ask him

"Positive."

When he speaks, there is a confidence that overwhelms me. I don't know how he can be so sure of something so insane, but he is. Then I realise this confidence may be the only thing that can get me through the next few months. So, I walk over, and give him a big kiss.

"We're gonna have a baby." I tell him, with a huge smile on my face.

"Yeah, We're gonna have a baby." He replies back to me, looking like he just won a trillion dollars.


	4. Chapter 4

**So this chapter is a little more intense. I hope you enjoy!**

 **CHAPTER 4**

 ***Willow Point of View***

"I can't believe we made that." Xander tells me as we walk down the steps of the doctor's office.

"I know, it is weird." I tell him. "It actually kinda looks like a baby."It's a cool afternoon in Sunnydale, and Xander and I just left our first baby check-up. I was around 16 weeks, and I started showing so we decided it was best to go. The doctor was extremely judgemental the whole way through though, and looked like she had just one too many cups of beer. So, great day.

"When do you think it's going to start kicking?" I ask

"Why? Scared of the pain?" Xander jokingly responds.

"Yes, terrified. Maybe it'll break my appendix."

"We need to stop calling it, it." Xander tells me

"You know we literally just told the doctor that we didn't want to know the sex?"

"I know," he replies, "but there has to be something better than it."

"Well," I tell him, "What about you call it a 'he', and I'll call it, a 'she'?"

'I suppose that could work."

He takes my hand after the last statement, and we proceed to stroll down the street toward the park.

"Hey, Xander." I ask him, "I was just wondering, when I was unconscious, I mean, who knows, about the baby?"

"I'm not sure." he tells me, "I think just Buffy. I don't think she told any of the others."

"Great, so now we have to face Giles's disappointed face ourselves."

"Seems like it."

I don't often dread things, but I do openly dread seeing our friend's reactions to this. I feel like I failed them in every sense of the word. I hate disappointing people. Always have, always will.

"I think we should do it today." I honestly don't know what makes me say it, but when I do, it makes sense.

"What?" Xander stops immediately, and turns me to face him.

"Today? Now?"

"Yeah." I tell him, "I mean, what do we got to lose? It's got to happen sometime. They're going to find out soon anyway when I get fat, so why not now time?"

"Solid point." he says, but I can see he is unconvinced.

"Well, it's fine if you don't want to. We can talk about it and-"

"Talk about what?" I hear a voice behind me that instantly makes my blood run cold. I know who it is before I see her, and I can tell that Xander can too by the way his arm tenses.

"The fact that it has been four months, and we still haven't found my key?"

Glory's blonde curls appear from behind a tree, and she struts up right up next to me.

"You know," she drawls, "this whole time I was thinking I could find it myself. But I guess sometimes, things work out better when you have a little help."

Just then, I can feel my body be jerked back. Instant pain hits my spine, and I find that breathing is becoming a slight problem. I am vaguely aware of someone calling my name, but all I can feel is hurt.

"Lelos." I whisper, and an inch of strength seeps its way into my skin.

I then hear a scream, and I jerk my head up to see what's happening. Xander is flying through the air in the opposite direction, oddly bent. Glory is standing over his frame in a stupid skin tight dress and red heels, looking like a God on a throne. For once, I just want to see her dignity fall.

I slowly raise my arm and speak as clearly as I can, "Let Osiris hear my call, let the great God Glory fall." There's then a blue blast, and Glory falls on to her back, with a giant bloody slash in her stomach.

The one moment of victory I felt was then immediately squashed by Glory rising into the air.

"You." She points at me, "The Wicca. That really hurt. And you ruined my good dress."

The last thing I see is a giant black beam shooting at my face, before I lose all grips on reality.

…

I hear a scream, that immediately sends me plummeting towards consciousness. Xander falls next to me, and I feel a wet substance pour onto my arm.

"Just wanted to give you a little heads up why not to mess with me." Glory's words bounce around the room.

"And I just wanted to give you a little heads up of why not to mess with me." Xander replies back.

'Oh come on Xander.' I want to say, 'Now's not the time to be brave.', but I find that my mouth doesn't work yet.

"Oh really, you think that hurt." Glory yells at him, "Please, I could have hit better than that when I was two."

Then I hear a crack and Xander's screams ring out once again.

"No!" I yell, my eyes bursting open.

"Ah, the witch awakens."

I am then aware of a high heel in my nose, and the slightest bit of grogginess I retained suddenly disappears, being replaced with waves of pain.

"Whatever information you want, we don't have." Xander yells

While trying to stop the blood flow from my nostrils, I look at my surroundings. There are giant pillars of rock all around, a dusty blue carpet covers most of the floor. There also appears to be puddles of red around, and there is a strange smell in the air like a mix of asbestos and rotten eggs.

The voice of the blonde demon in the room brings me back to my senses. "Oh, I don't believe that for a second. How about this one? She's been quiet."

"I told you we don't know anythin-"

Xander's voice is cut short by Glory's fist, and another scream bounces around the room.

"What do you want to know?" Once more in my life, my mouth acted before my brain.

"Oh, so she does admit something."

"What do you want to know?" I ask more forcefully.

"I'm getting to it, jeez. Redheads." Glory takes a few more steps until she is right in front of me. Her hand is then stroking my face, but her eyes are full of a rage I didn't think was possible for an entity of any kind to have.

"Where the hell is my key? I figure you're friends with the slayer, so I have no doubt in my mind that you know. And, you're gonna tell me."

"Yes, the key, um, yeah, I know who it is."

My brain is working as hard as it ever has to try to come up with a lie. I need someone plausible, but I can't get them into trouble. I know one thing for certain though, whoever I say is going to be in deep trouble.

"Willow, please, don't." Xander says. I can see the pain in his eyes, and I know what I have to do.

"The key, is me." I tell Glory. "I'm the key."

"Willow, no!"

"Shut up boy!" Glory yells, punching Xander in the jaw.

"You?" Glory says, scrutinising every detail of my face. "Can't be. The key is new."

"Yeah, I know. I am new. I was brought here in human form to be protected by the slayer. Everyone's memories were wiped, a-" I am then stopped by a horrible splitting pain in my chest. I can roughly make out the form of a gold stick.

"Willow! Oh god!" Xander yells from across the room

"Don't lie to me girl!" Glory yells.

I can feel tears starting to sting at the corners of my eyes, and as much as I want to send them away, I fail, and I can feel the wet path one forms as it falls down my cheek.

"I'm not. I promise."

"Don't make promises you can't keep." Glory says as she sends another stick into my leg. I scream, and I'm suddenly aware of the cold ground beneath me, as I fall to it.

"You know, this is getting boring. I'm going to go get ready for bed. This skin needs some serious exfoliating if I want to keep it nice and shiny." Glory gets up, wipes her hands on the bottom of her dress to clean off the dirt, and struts away. You know, as much as I hate to admit it, she's kinda hot.

The moment the door shuts, Xander rushes over to me.

"Wil, are you okay? I mean, of course not, but, god, are you okay?" His face is very tense, and I can see the panic in his eyes.

"I'm okay Xander. It just hurts."

Then, suddenly a thought hits me, "Oh god, oh god, the baby."

"I know Wil." Xander says, as he strokes my arm gently.

"Is she okay?"

"I hope so." He tells me.

"But that's not an answer."

"I don't have an answer Willow. We can't have an answer until we leave."

"I guess you're right. I'm just scared."

"I am too." He then puts his hands around me and pulls me into a huge hug.

I honestly have no idea how he is managing to keep himself together so well. He used to be the one going insane, and I used to be the one to help him. It's weird how the tables turn when you grow up.

"I love you." I tell him.

"I love you too." he tells me, as he places a small kiss in the center of my forehead.


	5. Chapter 5

**Recap: "I love you." I tell him. "I love you too." he tells me, as he places a small kiss in the center of my forehead.**

 **Note: I decided I wanted to do something fun for this chapter, so I wrote this one from Xander's point of view. Tell me if you want me to do more like this. Thanks for all the reads and reviews!**

 **CHAPTER 5**

 ***Xander Point Of View***

This just all seems so impossible. I get that being friends with the slayer doesn't really guarantee you a pain free life, in fact, it kind of guarantees you the exact opposite, but still I never expected to be trapped in a basement, being tortured, with Willow. Especially when everything was going so well. Sure, at first this whole baby thing was terrifying and unreal, but as the weeks went past I actually started looking forward for meeting a little us. The truth is, I have never felt more lucky than when I was with Willow. It just sucks that I didn't understand this sooner. I was always in love with her, it just took a lot of life threatening scenarios for me to figure it out.

All of these things and more are running through my head as I hold on to Willow in this horrible dungeon. Right now, she is the only thing keeping me bound to reality. Every cell of my being is in complete and utter terror, and somehow the warmth and stability of her body is keeping me in check. She is my rock, and I can't lose her.

A loud bang suddenly jerks me from my thoughts. The door in the corner of the room swings open, and two of Glory's ugly henchmen walk out.

"Cuddle time over." One of them says, as he comes and pulls me away from Willow.

"No!" I scream, kicking,and punching, and trying to make them release me.

Instead, they put chains around my arms and connect them to the ceiling. I can see that they are doing the same to Willow on the other side. Then she screams, and her head drops to one side. I barely have time to register what happened, when the same then happens to me.

…Two Weeks Later…..

For the first time in many days I wake to something other than screaming. Instead, it is to the feeling of a hand around my cheek. I open my eyes, to see Willow in front of me.

"Hey." She says, "How are you doing?"

"Alright." I tell her, "you?"

"Never better." Of course, I could tell this was a total lie, as her white dress was now covered in red. She has a few big blood spots around her abdomen, and there are light scratches running down her arms and legs. She also has two deep cuts around her wrists where they had been rubbing against the chains. I hate seeing her like this.

And then the thought hits me.

"Wait Wil, how are you here?"

"I wanted to come and say hi, so I mustered up enough magic to unlock the chains." She says, with a small devious smile on her face.

"Willow," I say, trying to hide my joy at being able to touch her again, "you really shouldn't have. You know Glory's going to hurt you for this."

"Glory's going to hurt me anyway." She tells me, "So let's just enjoy this while we can."

I get the hint, I kiss her, and she replies enthusiastically. We do this for a few more minutes, until she gives a little scream.

I pull away quickly, and hold her at arm's length.

"What's wrong?" I ask her, frantically

She doesn't answer. She just closes her eyes, and doesn't seem to be breathing.

I start to panic, and I shake her even though I know I shouldn't.

"Willow!" I half scream into her face. "Willow!"

Suddenly, she gives a loud scream and her eyes jerk open for a second. I can just make out her saying the word, "Glory" before she falls.

Just on cue, the door opens and she who must not be named walks in.

"Oh dear." she says, "It seems like someone managed to escape from her prison. I trust she got my little message though." Glory then gives a little flick of her hand and Willow crashes into the wall behind me, before being flung back into her chains. Her eyelids flutter open, and I can see pain echoing in them.

"So, I can see that you two probably aren't going to talk."

"You're right about that." I say, trying to put as much spite as possible into my voice.

"I wasn't done!" Glory screamed, "So, lucky for me, I've got a back up plan."

"Which would be what?" Willow asks her

"I'm getting to it! " Glory says as she hits her in the face. I flinch, as I do every time. Then she continues, "You know, I have been kinda an idiot-"

"You can say that again." I interrupt her, but get rewarded with a painful knife in the leg.

"You know," she continues as if there were no interruptions, "I have been kinda an idiot with this whole plan thing of mine. It would have been smarter to go to Buffy immediately rather than having to waste all of my precious time with you."

"Go to Buffy?" Willow asks

"Yes, go to Buffy. I'm going to tell her that if she tells me who the key is, I will let you both go, and if she doesn't," Glory then stops halfway to pull out a long menacing looking sword, "I will run you both through with this. And don't think that this will be a short death either. No, it will be as long and painful as I can possibly make it."

"Please," Willow says, with fear etched in every line of her face, "please, don't."

Glory then slowly walked down to Willow, and held the knife out to her face. I wanted to say something, but for some reason I couldn't.

"Oh sweetie," Glory says as she cuts a small gash in Willow's cheek. Willow then gives out a blood curdling scream and I desperately try to reach out for her, but the chains hold me back, "why on Earth wouldn't I?"

"Because," Willow stammers, and I lock eyes with her, and before I can tell her not to say anything I can hear the words come out of her mouth, "because I'm pregnant."

Glory then gives an excited jump and a smile grows on her face.

"That is so wonderful! Oh, now I won't even have to go to the slayer!"

"No, please." Willow mutters.

"Oh, yes." Glory tells her.

I can see the pain in Willow's eyes. I know that she only meant to get some sympathy from Glory, but this just means that she is going to be hurt more. I can't bare to see her in any more pain. I need to do something. Then something catches my attention. I see Willow look at me, and she mouths the words, 'I'm sorry.' This breaks my entire being. I can't imagine what she is feeling right now. All I do is mouth back, 'Don't be.'

Then, Glory opens her big mouth again and says,"Oh wait, there's a slight problem. You said you were pregnant before, but I imagine that you can't be pregnant now. I mean, how could a little fetus survive?" Glory then gets in a very dramatic thinking position, until she pretends to come to a conclusion. "How about we do a little test to find out?"

Willow is then thrown onto the floor and a red beam of light was shot at Willow's middle. I yell out, but it can't be heard because of the deafening crack the spell makes.

"Well, well, well." Glory says, "How is this possible? It's still alive."

I can see Willow's face flood with color and mine probably does as well. But then I think it hits both of us as to what this means.

"This will make everything so much fu-"

And then Glory is cut off by a huge crash. I jerk my head around to see the door fly off its hinges. Buffy is behind it. She tries to hide the shock at seeing us all beaten up, but fails.

"Oh my god." Giles whispers as he appears behind her, obviously also in shock.

"Glory," Buffy says as she walks forward," I think it's finally time that you and me have a little chat. No interruptions."

"Please," Glory says standing up and wiping off her dress, "I have been looking forward for this for so long slayer." Then Glory throws her knife at Buffy, who deflects, and the fight is on.

Giles rushes over to us through the chaos, and breaks the chains holding me up. I immediately run to Willow, who is far more beat up than I am, and grab her hand. I can see a tear fall down her cheek.

"Xander," she whispers

"Yeah Wil."

"I think I'm dying."

Those words hit me like a bullet in the chest. She can't be dying. Can she?

"No, Wil. We are going to be fine."

Just then, Buffy's body comes flying over my head, and she is knocked unconscious. Glory gives a little laugh and walks over to Buffy. Then she pulls her up, and holds a cleaver to her throat.

"You know," she laughs dryly, "I've never killed a slayer before. This should be fun." She then slowly begins to move the knife against Buffy's throat, and the tiniest drop of blood is visible, when there is a disturbance behind us. I can hear someone shout "NO!" but I don't know who it is.

It is then that I see Dawn emerge from the doorway, followed by a beaten up Anya. Dawn then looks Glory in the eyes without the slightest bit of fear and says, "Don't hurt her. It's me you want. I'm the key."


	6. Chapter 6

**Recap:It is then that I see Dawn emerge from the doorway, followed by a beaten up Anya. Dawn then looks Glory in the eyes without the slightest bit of fear and says, "Don't hurt her. It's me you want. I'm the key."**

 **CHAPTER 6**

 ***Xander Point of View***

No. This can't be happening. How could Dawn tell her? Please God, don't let Glory believe her. I can feel Willow's hand tense up under my own, when I look down at her, I can see her eyes are filled with utter terror.

"You are my key?" Glory asks, as she drops Buffy's unconscious figure and walks over to Dawn.

"Don't touch her." Giles says, but he is cut off by a quick flick of Glory's hand that sends him crashing back into the wall.

"You? You little girl?" Glory reaches her hand out and strokes Dawn's hair. Dawn is clearly trying to stay strong, but she is slightly quivering under her touch, not to blame her. I feel a small tug on my arm, and I look down to see Willow attempting to sit up. I pull on her arm, and she is now some sort of a half sitting position, resting on my shoulder for support.

"So what that red head said was true then?" Glory said, continuing to play with Dawn's her as she turns around to give a quick acknowledgement to Willow.

"You did mess up the timeline when you were brought here, how fun."

Then Glory seems to notice Anya standing behind her prisoner, because she gives another quick flick of her hand, and she is sent tumbling backwards. She then returns her attention to the matter at hand.

"Didn't want anyone getting in our way now did we-what's your name again?"

"Dawn." she whispers so quietly I can barely make it out.

"Dawn." Glory mimics, "How pretty. Well, okay Dawn, I think it's time to leave."

"Let her go." Buffy's voice booms around the dungeon as she pushes herself up from the floor.

"Can't do that slayer, sorry. The key is mine, so I'm taking her."

"Maybe you misheard me last time." Buffy says, taking a few steps forward, "I said, let her go."

"And why would I do that?" Glory asks her, innocently

"Because you're gonna get your ass handed to you on a silver platter if you don't."

"Oh my god." Glory replies annoyed, "Did we not already go through this slayer? I beat you in one fight, and I can easily do it again."

"That was before you had my sister." Buffy is now standing right in front of Glory, their noses basically touching.

"Don't really think that makes any difference." and before Buffy can respond, Glory sends a knife into Buffy's arm, that pushes her backwards. Glory then grabs Dawn and they take off in a sprint. Buffy immediately tears the knife out, and follows Glory, running at high speed.

"Now's our chance." Giles whispers.

I look over to Willow, who is basically unconscious, and I am in no state to run myself, let alone carry anyone.

"I don't think we can make it Giles." I hear Willow tell him.

"Yes, you can." He tells her. "We are just going to have to go slowly. But it's fine. Everyone should be distracted with Glory."

So, I help willow stand up, and I hand her off to Giles, who helps her walk, while Anya helps me, and we begin the very long trek up the many flights of stairs outside the door.

It's kind of surreal that we are leaving the dungeon. I pretty much expected to die here, and I'm sure that Willow did as well. I never thought we would ever see sunlight again. So when we reach the top, the light is blinding.

We walk until we reach the road, but then Willow collapses, and I am just about to. Most of our wounds have reopened, so we are both actively bleeding out on the pavement.

"I'm going to go and get help." Anya says, and she takes off running towards the closest house, probably to ask to use their phone.

The sun is too bright. I am vaguely aware of a scream next to me, and some people talking, and the sound of sirens in the distance, but I can't concentrate. The last thing I remember is an odd looking bird perching on a tree branch. Then I black out.

….…* **Willow POV*** …..

When I wake up, all I can hear is a loud beeping. I mean, there are lots of other noises too, footsteps, talking, but all I'm really aware of is the beeping. It's like a rhythm. Everything else just matches up with the beeping. They each have their place, but they all fall under the same rhythm. The rhythm of the beep. Suddenly, I can't take it anymore. The beeping becomes too intense. It's filling up my brain, and overcoming my senses. I can't think. I need it to stop. I NEED it to stop.

I jerk up, and the beeping fades away, and is replaced by the bustling of hospital life.

The lights are very bright in my face, and everyone is speaking so loudly. I appear to be in a room with pale blue paint on the walls, and a blue tiled floor. I'm dressed in the classic stylish hospital gown, and it matches the bedding perfectly. I can also tell that there are two people outside my door, although I cannot tell who they are.

I wait there for a few more minutes, until I can't take the loneliness anymore. I give a small cough, and when they don't seem to notice, a slightly louder one. That seems to do the trick as the figures stopped talking. One of them peeks his head through the door, and I can tell that it is Giles. When he sees that I am awake, he gives a smile and walks over to the bed. The other was the doctor, who also comes in.

"Ah, Ms. Rosenberg." he says as he walks over to my bed, "I'm Doctor Helms. How are you feeling?"

"Miraculously well." I tell him, truthfully.

"Well that's good." he replies, "Although a lot of that can be blamed on the morphine. I'm just going to check your vitals and then I'll clear out and give you some time. Alright?"

"Okay."

And he does a little bit of poking and prodding, but I've got Giles there for support. After about two minutes, he announces his departure, but I stop him with the question that's been bugging me since I woke up.

"Wait, one second Doctor, please." he pauses and turns around.

"What is it" he asks me

"Well, I was just wondering, about the baby." I can feel my cheeks burning, but I refuse to look at Giles, who is probably already planning his exit.

"Oh yes, sorry. Well, the baby is looking surprisingly good for the trauma that your body was put through. Vitals are all stable and it looks like he will be fine."

Thank God.

"Oh that's great. Thank you."

And then, what he said hit me, "Wait!" I yell at him to grab his attention as he begins to leave.

"Did you say, 'he'?"

"Oh, yes, I did, I'm sorry. I thought you knew."

"I'm having a boy?" I askes, overjoyed.

"Yes, you're having a boy. Congratulations Ms. Rosenberg." and with that he walked out of the room.

I can feel the smile on my lips, and I make no effort to hide it, until I remember something.

"Xander?" I turn around and look at Giles, quite panicked, "Where's Xander? Is he okay?"

"Xander is fine." Giles reassures me. "He woke up about a day ago. He was quite worried about you though. Maybe we can get you two moved into the same room."

Relief floods through me.

"How long will we have to be here?" I ask, trying to avoid talking about the obvious.

"A week I think." Giles says

An awkward silence tears through the room, until Giles voice surfaces.

"Why didn't you tell me Willow?"

The sadness in his voice cuts through me like a knife. I don't want Giles to hate me. He's one of the only people I have.

"I didn't want you to hate me." I say, as a tear drips down from my cheek, making a little puddle on the bedding.

"Willow," Giles says, taking my hand, "I would never hate you. People make mistakes. I get that. I'm here for you. I always will be. I love you. We all love you, and are here for you."

His words are some of the best things I have ever heard.

"Giles," I tell him, "you will never know how much that meant to me right there."

Giles smiles and I pull him into a hug.

"Willow," he tells me, pulling away and avoiding my face, "what you went through in there, it was my fault, and I am so sorry. Nobody should ever have to go through something like that."

"You're fault?" I ask him, bewildered, "How on Earth could this be your fault?"

"I'm supposed to look after you, and I left you out of my sight, and she took you." then Giles does something I've never see him do before. He starts to cry.

"Giles, don't you dare blame yourself for this. There's no way you could have stopped Glory even if you have a whole army behind you." I tell him, "Glory's a God. And Gods get what they want."

My words linger in the air for a moment, before the reality of them sinks in.

"Oh God, Dawn. What happened. Is she- she can't be."

Giles turns and looks at me, with that look in his face that a doctor uses before they tell you your loved one has died.

"What happened?" I ask, trying to sound aggressive, but failing, as my voice cracks in the middle of my sentence.

"Buffy wasn't able to get to her. Glory has her."

Not Dawnnie. Why does it have to be her?

"And what will she do with her?" I ask, fearing the answer.

"She is going to use her to open up this big portal into all of the dimensions." Giles answers slowly and sadly, "It will allow all sorts of demons in. It will pretty much initiate the end of the world."

"When is she going to perform the ceremony?" I ask, clinging on to the last possible piece of hope we have left.

"We think in about four months. That is when the timing will be perfect." Giles answers

"Four months? We are leaving Dawn with that horrible woman for four months?" I ask, extremely angry

"Well the plan in to get her out before then." Giles replies defensively

Yeah, what was I thinking? Four months is plenty enough time to rescue Dawn, right?

"Can I see Xander?" I ask Giles

"I'll see what I can do." he says, while getting up and walking to the door.

"Thank you." I tell him, hoping that he knows the true meaning behind my words. Based on his smile that follows, I'm guessing he does.

A few minutes later, it is evident that whatever Giles did worked, because another hospital bed came through the door, and it had Xander inside of it.

"Wil!" He said," Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm good." I tell him, smiling.

"And so is our son."

"That's great." Xander says, beaming. And then, I can see the moment that it hits him by the way that his eyebrows go up.

"Wait, did you say-" he asks, bewildered

"Yup." I tell him, "We are having a boy!"

The look of pure joy on his face is priceless, and I wish that I had a camera with me so I could save it forever.

"You know I would be kissing you right now if I could reach right?" He asked me

"Yeah, I guessed that." and then I gave a small laugh, because even though we had both just been tortured for two weeks by a god, and our best friend's little sister was taken away, and the entire world could end in four months, it seemed in that very second that our lives couldn't get any better.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

 ***Willow Point of View***

After one very painstaking week of living in a hospital, Xander and I have finally been discharged. It is going to be so nice to be able to sleep without being woken up every two hours to get prodded by some nurses. They did give us some medications though, that we are supposed to take between varying different times and amounts. I can't complain though.

We walk down to our car, and I breathe in the clean air. The wonderful outside air that doesn't smell of chemicals.

"You know, you never quite appreciate how wonderful the sun is, until is is shining directly in your face." Xander tells me, with a huge grimace on his face.

"Yeah, it's a real gift." I say sarcastically

I duck under the top of the car, and climb inside the passenger seat. Xander sits in the back, and Giles in the driver's. He promised to drive us home, even though we assured him that we are both perfectly capable of driving ourselves.

None of us speak as we drive. I can tell that all of us are thinking the same thing, but nobody voices it.

I decide to speak up, "We can meet every day." I tell them, trying to sound confident, "We will get Dawn back."

"Yes, we will." Giles says, "We have four months. We can do it."

Then there's another pause, but this time Giles breaks the silence.

"You two need to be careful. Glory is content for now because she has her key, but I can't promise what she'll do."

"Don't worry Giles." Xander says, "We will be fine. Nobody will be able to get past this kick-ass Wicca and demon fighting master."

"Aww, thanks Xander." I say, sarcastically, "You think I'm a kick-ass Wicca. How nice."

"It's true." Xander states, "I would put my life in your hands any minute."

"And as admirable as that is," Giles interrupts, "you still need to take extra processions. Make sure to do the spells, always have your doors and windows locked, and just, be careful, please. I couldn't bare it if anything happened to you."

"It's a little too late for that Giles." Xander says, before I can stop him.

"And, this is our street." I say loudly, to save Giles from a response.

We then pull up in front of our apartment building, and I crawl out of the car. I grab Xander's hand, and we walk up to the door.

I then remember, and I walk over to Giles and give him a huge hug.

"Thank you, for everything." I say

"Be careful." Giles tells me.

I give him a nod, and walk into the house, Xander right behind me.

"I never expected to come here again." I tell him, truthfully.

"I know." he tells me, "I wouldn't dare let myself imagine it because it was all too unbelievable."

"Believe it." I say, as I walk over and kiss him.

After about a minute, I tell him we should probably go to our apartment.

"Yeah, we don't need any neighbors walking in and catching us making out." He says with a grin.

"That wouldn't be ideal."

I take my keys out of my pocket, and walk up the stairs. I unlock the door to room 214, and walk inside. It's not until I'm there that I realise just how much I missed my house. It smells like family, and life.

"That was so horrible." I truthfully tell Xander

"Yeah. I don't want to go through anything like this ever again." Xander tells me

"Well that's kinda obvious."

"Yeah, but we were voicing or inner thoughts were we not?" he asks

"No we were," I tell him smiling, "I just didn't know how simplistic yours were."

"Wow. Making fun of my mind now?" He sarcastically

Before I can respond, a shooting pain runs through the cuts on my abdomen and I double over in pain. I can feel Xander's hands around me, as he tries to pull me up.

"Wil, what's wrong? Are you okay?" he asks me, panicked

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little surge. The doctors said this would happen." I reply truthfully

"I think I'm just going to go and rest. Will you be find on your own?" I ask him

"Wil, there's a TV, and about fifty bags of chips. There's no need to worry about me." he tells me, with a smile

"Okay."

I then give him a quick kiss, and walk away towards the bedroom.

I don't think that I have ever appreciated my warm bed as much as I do now. It feels like I'm resting in a cloud. An extremely comfortable cloud.

When I close my eyes, I finally feel safe, and that's a wonderful feeling.

…..

 _When I open my eyes, I am no longer in my bed. Instead, I am in a dark cold room, that appears to be deep underground. I slowly prise myself off the floor, and walk to the edge of the room. I delicately place my hand on the wall, to try to sense what it's made of. It feels like a mixture of dirt and stone, and it smells horrible._

 _I slowly begin to walk around the room, with my hand dragging on the walls. It is smooth, and there doesn't seem to be any doors._

 _I sit down on the floor in defeat, and then a sudden rush of terror pours into me. I search around, but there doesn't seem to be anything there. Then there's a small creak from the corner of the room._

 _I immediately jerk up, and call out, "Hello? Who's there?"_

 _The only response I get is a soft clicking._

 _Beads of sweat are dripping down my forehead, and I can feel my mouth getting dryer._

" _Carlo." I whisper, waving my hand, attempting to light up the room. However, it stays just as dark._

" _CARLO." I say, a bit more forcefully. I swing my head around, but I still can't see any light._

" _BANG!" something shoots out in front of my face, and an intense pain hits me. I fall to the ground, and begin to convulse._

 _The pain consumes me. I thrash around, desperately trying to get it to go away. It's not moving, and it just seems to be getting worse._

 _I think somebody far in the distance is screaming, but I don't care. All I care about is the pain. It's all I can feel, and it's all I can think._

 _Then suddenly, a loud voice shines in my head._

" _Willow!" I hear it say, but I can't respond._

 _I am being shaked, but I can't move._

" _WILLOW!"_

I jerk awake, and I can feel myself shaking so hard that the bed is scratching the floor. My clothes are drenched in sweat, and there are tears streaming down my cheeks. My throat also seems to be scratchy so I imagine that the screaming was not just in the dream.

"What happened?"

Xander is standing over me, and it appears as if he has been crying too. He has my hand in one of his own, and the other is gripping onto the bed so hard his knuckles are turning white.

I must have took too long to answer his question, because he repeats it again, more aggressively then I think he meant to.

"WHAT HAPPENED?"

"Just a nightmare." I reply, trying to reassure him (although I don't do a very good job, as I am still shaking myself).

"God Willow, you can't do that again." he says, his hand dropping to the ground, his face as pale as the moon, "I was just sitting on the couch, and you started screaming, and I ran in here, and you were shaking, and I tried to help you, but you weren't waking up. I couldn't do anything, I-" and then Xander does something I have never seen him do before. Not when we were in the dungeon, not when Dawn was taken, and not in any single perilous situation we have ever been in. He breaks.

He drops to his knees beside the bed, and puts his hands over his face, and he just starts crying. He is hyperventilating like he just run a marathon, and he is shaking almost as hard as I was.

This is so unlike Xander that I am caught off guard. After a second of watching him though, I snap back into reality. I have to help him.

So I soundlessly get out of bed, and I take a spot next to him in the floor. My arms tenderly wrap around him, and I hold him as he sobs, gently stroking his hair.

We sit like that for hours, until the peachy oranges of the setting sun flow throughout the room.

Xander moves his head to look at me.

"I'm so sorry." he says, "You were the one in pain, and I made it all about me. I'm so sorry."

"No." I respond quickly, "No, I wasn't the only one in pain. You have been through hell and back too. You get a moment to break down. You get a hundred moments to break down. Don't you for a second think that this was a bother for me. We are in this together. I'll sit by your side for as many meltdowns as you need, because I'm here for you." I give him a kiss on the forehead, and he gives me a shaky smile.

"I love you so much Wil." he tells me

"And I love you so much too Xander Harris."

Then I wrap my arms back around him, and we sit like that together on the floor, until we both fall asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

 ***Willow Point of View***

The bright sun hits me directly in the face, and I wearily open my eyes. I hate having to wake up in the morning. Why can't we all just sleep until noon time? It would make life so much better.

Then the smell of bacon hits my nose, and I am instantly alert.

I quickly get out of bed, and run into the kitchen. Food can be a great motive to do things that you really don't want to.

Xander is standing over the stove, with a giant spatula in his hand. In front of him is a silver frying pan full of sizzling bacon. My mouth is watering like crazy, and I want nothing more than to run over to him immediately and eat all of it.

"Good morning." he says, as he stabs a piece with a fork and places it on a red plate.

"Sleep well?"

"Well enough." I tell him as I walk over to the plate, "Enough in there for two?"

"Willow, I'd like to think that I've known you long enough to understand what the price would be if I only cooked bacon for myself." he grins

"You hit the jackpot." I say, as I steal the piece from the plate while his back is turned.

"Hey." he smirks, "I was planning on plating them first. Now I've got to subtract one from your total count because you already ate one. Or, I could do two, because you broke the rules."

"You do that," I tell him as I menacingly hold up a butter knife from the counter, "and I'll have to subtract one of your limbs from your body."

"Jeez Rosenberg, I was just joking." he laughs as he plates two more bacon strips, "Don't make me get a restraining order."

"Like a restraining order could stop me."

I walk over to the other side of the counter, and sit innocently on the stool, awaiting my breakfast.

"Remind me, why did I agree to date you again?" Xander asks as he sets down my plate full of heaping bacon.

"Because," I answer as I shovel piles of it into my face, "I'm an amazing badass witch and you love me."

"Oh yeah, I forgot." he grins, as he also greadilly eats his pile of food.

We sit in silence for a few more minutes, as we lick our plates clean. When we are both done, I get the dishes and proceed to scrub them in the sink.

"Scooby meeting today?" Xander asks

"Yup." I tell him, focusing on the cleaning, "It's been a few weeks since the last one, and we have some serious work to get done."

After a few minutes, Xander adds, "I miss her so much."

"Yeah, so do I." I tell him, drying the final dish, "But we are so close. We'll get her back soon."

"It's just, after what she did to us, I can't imagine what she must be doing to Dawn."

I turn to face him at this statement, and try to reply as truthfully as I can.

"I know." I tell him, "But, we can't think like that. It won't do us any good. Besides, I don't know if Glory would want a lot of harm to come to her precious key."

"Maybe not." Xander replies, obviously just trying to humor me.

"Let's just not think about it."

I walk over to him, and wrap my arms around his neck. He kisses me gently, and I respond. We stand like this, kissing, for a few more minutes, until I break away.

"As much as I love this." I tell him, "We should get dressed. We have to leave soon."

"I know." as he gives me a sly grin, "But we still have a few more minutes."

"And what are you suggesting?" I ask, trying to sound as naive as I can

"I think you already know."

Then he grabs me by the waist, and leads me to the next room, where the door slams behind us. So much for being on time.

….

Approximately forty-five minutes later, we open the door to the Magic Box.

We are immediately greeted by the soft, *ding* of the bell hanging over us, and by the smell of herbs.

Anya runs towards us from around the counter, clearly waiting to help customers, but she turns away when she realises who it is.

"You're late." she says in her usual peppy tone

"Yeah, sorry about that." Xander says giving me a little smile. "There was just some business we needed to take care of."

"Well, it doesn't matter." Anya says as she leads us forward, "They're in the back."

I take Xander's hand and we follow her into the dusty back of the shop, where Buffy and Giles are sitting around a small table, covered in books. Giles gives a little nod in our direction, but Buffy does nothing to indicate that she is aware of our presence. She's been acting weird ever since Dawn left, so this isn't really out of the ordinary.

"Hi Buffy!" I say a little too enthusiastically, as I sit down next to her.

"Hi." Buffy half-heartedly responds, without looking up from her book.

"So," Xander asks, as he sits down across from me, "is today just going to be another research day? Or is there any new info?"

"Well, I actually think I might have a lead on something." Giles states as he stands up.

This immediately catches everyone's attention.

"You have a lead?" Buffy asks, staring directly into Giles's eyes, unblinking.

"I believe so." he says, as he opens up a book.

"I think that Dawn is being kept in this old church down in the Western part of town. There is a big tower being built next to it, that I believe is going to be used for the ceremony to open up the portal. Dawn will then be used at that time."

"How?" Buffy replies emotionless, still not moving.

"Well," Giles stammers, clearly not wanting to finish explaining, "well, in this ceremony, Dawn's blood will be used to open up the portal. She, well, they cut her enough times, and she bleeds out."

A chill runs up my spine. I know that she is the key and all, but how could they hurt a little girl?

I turn my head around and see Buffy staring into space. Without moving a muscle she says, "I am going to go stop her." She then gets up, and begins to walk out the door.

"Wait!" Giles screams, "Buffy, we need to wait, develop a plan."

"Wait?" Buffy turns around and screams back, "My little sister is being held prisoner by a God, and she will eventually be sliced up into little bits until she dies. I can't just wait."

"But Buffy," I add, standing up, "She's not going to hurt Dawn before the ceremony."

"We don't know that!" Buffy yells, and she continues to walk towards the door.

"No, Buffy, please wait!" I run up to her, and grab her arm. Before I can say another thing, she shoves me, and I stumble backwards, falling over the counter. Then a door slams.

Xander runs over to me.

"You good?" he asks, as he helps me up.

"Yeah, I'm good, just b-" but before I can finish my sentence, something happens that sends panic through every bone in my body.

I can feel something hit against my stomach.

I grab the small bump on my abdomen, searching for whatever made that happen, but I can't feel anything. That's when it hits me.

"Xander." I say quietly

"What?" he asks in a panicked tone

"I think, I just felt him kick." I tell him, with a scared smile

"Wait, really?" he replies, with a very boyish grin on his face

"I think so." I tell him

"Well that's amazing."

"Yeah."

I don't know why I'm not overjoyed at this. I should be, right? I mean, this is a sign that our baby is strong, and healthy, but I'm not. Instead, a feeling of unease grips at my insides. This little kick is also a sign that this is real. We are really doing this. We are going to become parents. The thought excites me, but it also terrifies.

"Willow, are you alright?" Giles asks, as he runs over to us, breaking my train of thought.

"Yeah." I reassure him, forcing a smile onto my face, "Just fine."

"Good, that's, good." he mutters, as he walks away.

"There's really no point in trying to go and find her now, is there?" Anya asks, "I mean, when Buffy Summers decides she wants to do something, she does it. And, we can't really tackle a God."

"Yes, I suppose you are right." Giles says as he sits down, looking deeply troubled

"Well we can't just wait here for her to come back." Xander retorts

Nobody responds, mostly because I think all of us are at a loss for what to do.

"I'm going to go make some tea." I get up, and walk over to the little kitchen off the side door of the shop. I pour some water into the pot, and set it to boil on the stove. Then I stretch my legs forward, and lean back on the counter. That's when I feel another little kick in my middle.

"Hi there." I whisper to my son, although I doubt he can hear me.

"It's nice to know that you are alive." That was probably not the best thing to say to a fetus, but what can you do.

Then a whistling sound echoes through the air as the kettle reaches its boil. I run over and turn off the heat as I grab four mugs, and four tea bags from the cabinet. I also get a little serving tray, and carry them all out to the table.

It is a very solemn scene. Everyone is just sitting in silence staring at the walls. Anya seems to be getting pretty bored of it though, as she gets up and begins dusting bookshelves absent-mindedly.

We do this for about three more hours. The baby kicks a few times, but besides that it is uneventful. No customers come in, and nobody touches their tea.

After what feels like forever, we hear a ringing coming from the telephone. Giles immediately gets up and runs over to it. Xander and I take off after him.

I can't really make out who Giles is talking to, but by the paleness of his face, I know it's not good.

After two minutes, he gives a brief, "thank you." and puts down the receiver.

"She's in the hospital." he states hurriedly, as he grabs his coat and runs for the door.

Xander and I only have time to share one panicked look before we take off after him, following right at his heels.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER 9**

 ***Willow Point of View***

I slam the car door shut and sprint as hard as I can with a pregnant belly into the hospital. It is total chaos inside. There are people running around everywhere inside, and it makes it extremely hard to see where you are going.

Giles is in front of me, and he pushes his way to the reception desk. I follow him up, and Xander joins us a few seconds after.

"Hello," he tells the woman at the desk, "we are looking for a Ms. Buffy Summers. She was recently admitted."

The receptionist types something on her computer screen, and then scrolls for a minute until she seems to have found something.

"Ah yes, Buffy Summers." she says in a hard voice, "It seems like Ms. Summers is being treated at the moment, so we aren't allowing visitors. You can have a seat in the waiting area and wait for us to call you." then she moves her arm and points to a small room off the corner.

I give a nod, and walk down to a chair near a big window. I sit down, and put one of my hands protectively around my stomach, and the other I use to grip the chair for balance to keep from passing out.

"Buffy has to be okay." I whisper to myself, "She's the slayer. She'll be okay." Still, I don't believe a word of it.

I can feel Xander lower himself into the seat next to me, but I barely register it. I'm just focused on breathing, and trying not to die.

Suddenly, I feel something touch my hand, and I jerk it away sharply. I quickly turn my head to see the demon that had dared try to hurt me, but instead I just find Xander's confused face.

"Oh sorry." I tell him, blushing profusely, "Just a bit jumpy."

I lay my hand back down on the chair, and resort to just staring at the clock in wait.

Two minutes pass, then five, then ten, then thirty. Still no sign of Buffy.

After an hour goes by, I decide I can't take it anymore. I grip the handles to my seat, and pull myself up.

"Water." I croak out as I walk away, as to not worry anyone.

However, I take a sharp left at the water cooler, and continue down the hallway until I'm in the emergency room. There are beds on all sides, and doctors frantically running from one to another. There also appears to be quite a lot of blood coming from multiple tables.

I crane my neck, trying to locate my friend, but I can't make out anything through this chaos.

I begin to take a step forward, when I feel a hand on my shoulder.

I jerk around, only to find a dark skinned doctor standing behind me. Her hair is in a long sheet, and it shines as the light bounces off of it.

"I'm sorry, but you can't be in here." she tells me in a very strong Australian accent

"Sorry, I was just looking for my friend. We have been waiting for a while and we haven't heard anything." I tell her

"Well if you come with me, I can look her up for you." she replies as she turns and walks in the opposite direction.

I follow her quickly down the winding hallways, until we reach a small office.

"Let's see," she says as she sits down in front of a little desktop. "What is your friend's name?"

"Buffy." I blurt out, "Buffy Summers."

She nods her head and types in something. I can hear a soft *bing* and a page jumps up.

"Yes, Buffy is in recovery. She seems to be doing well. I can take you to see her."

Relief floods through me, and I can feel all of my muscles unclench.

"That would be amazing. Thank you doctor-"

"Benson." she finishes my sentence, with a small smile

"Benson." I repeat, "Thank you so much Doctor Benson, for everything."

"No problem." She tells me as she walks out of the room.

"Just down this hallway, and to your right." she points to the one she was talking about.

I nod, and follow down in the direction that the doctor pointed.

I am halfway through when I realise, oh crap, Giles, and Xander.

I quickly take off toward the waiting room, and find them sitting down in the same positions I left them in.

Both their heads turn as they see me enter.

"We can see her." I tell them, with a huge smile

Immediately they both get up, and follow me down the hallway until I reach a room labeled, "Room 1024. Patient: Buffy Summers. Practitioner: Dr. Gregory Ford."

I give a quick knock to indicate my presence, and then turn the knob and walk in.

It is a small room, that greatly resembles the one I stayed in. The walls are a pale blue, and there is a dresser with a flower pot on it next to a big window. Then there is a little TV, and a huge bed in which Buffy is lying in.

Her hair is matted, and small clumps are missing. She has huge gashes on her arms and legs, and a small chunk is missing from her upper thigh, but you can see that they are already starting to heal, as many of the cuts are surrounded by a small coating of new pink tissue.

Her big eyes are wide, and staring right at me. Fear is etched in every corner of her face.

"Buffy." I call to her as I run over, and I grab her hand.

She seems to recognize me, but she doesn't say anything.

"Oh my God, Buf." Xander says clearly in pain as he runs over to her, and grabs her other hand.

I study every inch of my friend's face, trying to make sure that she's okay. That's when I notice that Buffy is staring off intently in front of her.

I follow her gaze, to see Giles standing in front of her bed. He isn't saying anything, or doing anything. He's just standing, staring at her.

After this goes on for a few more minutes, I wonder if I should say something. Xander is clearly equally as confused. Before I open my mouth however, a movement startles me.

Giles runs up to Buffy and envelopes her in a huge hug, that she immediately accepts.

I can sense that this may be more of a personal thing, so I give my head a little nod, and Xander seems to take the hint.

"We're just going to be outside." Xander mutters as we quickly leave and shut the door behind us as quietly as possible.

"Oh my god." I say as I walk over to the chair next to the door.

"Yeah, I get the feeling." Xander tells me, sitting in the other one.

"What do you think that was between her and Giles?"

"Well," I say slowly, trying to make sure every word is precise, "I think that Giles feels horrible. I mean, we know he feels horrible. He thinks it was his fault we were taken, and he also blames himself for what happened with Buffy. He's just in shock, and he needs to make sure that she's okay."

"I guess that makes sense." he tells me, still staring at the wall.

I take a little intake of breath as I feel a hard kick in my middle.

"Baby not giving you a break?" Xander asks pityingly as he stares at my stomach.

"Nope." I reply as I adjust my weight in the chair.

Xander's hand then rests on my center, as he tells our son, "Hey there bud, you gotta be a bit more gentle on your momma here. It's been a rough day."

I can't help but smile as I watch him talk to the baby. He's going to make such a great dad.

"She's just so out of it it's scary." I add, honestly

"I know, but she'll be fine when we get Dawn back."

"But Xander," I turn to look at him, "How can you be sure we are going to get her back? We keep on saying that, all of us, but how can we be-" I can feel a tear drip down my face, as Xander grabs it.

"Wil, I know it looks grim, but we have a plan. And it'll work." he reassures me

"But what is it doesn't?"

"Then all hell will break loose."

I've always appreciated Xander's rare moments of blunt honesty. I give a little half-hearted laugh.

"But we don't think about that." he adds quickly, "Because if we do, we have no hope."

I reach down and give Xander a kiss. Its slow, but intense.

"When did you get so good at talking?" I ask

He gives a laugh, but his response is cut off by the door opening.

Xander and I both jump up on our feet, and look innocently at the door. Giles walks out, with a grim expression on his face.

"She's sleeping." he says, before collapsing into a chair.

I reach down, and squeeze his hand.

"I will hurt you if you are actively blaming yourself for this." I mutter jokingly, "You know you can't stop her even if you tried."

"I know." he whispers,"But I am her watcher."

"Come on." I tell him, pulling him up, "You should get some rest. Come stay with us tonight. You shouldn't be alone."

"Oh, well thanks for the very generous offer." he tells me, "But I think I'll stay here with Buffy tonight."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

He smiles at me, and I give him a hug, before walking over to Xander.

"Ready?"

"Ready."

He wraps his arms around me, and we walk out of the hospital, and get into the car. He puts his key in the ignition, and the car gives a welcoming purr.

We begin to drive away, when the question pops up to my mind.

"What do you think Glory did to her?" I ask Xander, not really expecting an answer

"No idea." he replies, like he was thinking the same thing.

"Probably not anything good though."

This isn't good. If Glory was able to beat up Buffy this badly, who knows what she can do with dozens of henchmen behind her.

A few minutes later, we pull into the parking lot. I grab my bag, and run into the house to escape the cold air.

I let our house welcome me, and I exhaustedly plop down on the couch, and turn on the TV.

"Good to see that you've got your priorities straight." Xander says as he sits down next to me.

I rest my head on his shoulder, and let myself get lulled into a peace by his warmth and the sounds of the blaring cartoons.

Before I know it, I've been taken by the tender clutches of sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**So I don't really have any ideas in the months leading up to the ceremony, so basically at this point it is a few days before, and Willow is in the last weeks of her pregnancy (please don't hate me if I mess up the timeline.) Enjoy! (This is also a super long chapter.)**

 **CHAPTER 10**

 ***Willow Point of View***

"Ooh, I like this one." I say, pointing to a name on the list that Xander and I are looking at, huddled together on the couch.

"Sebastian?" Xander answers in distaste, "Like the crab? You want our kid to be named after a crab?

"No, not like the crab." I tell him with a playful nudge, "I just think it's a fun name."

"Well then you have a serious lapse of judgement."

"Do not!" I say with mock anguish

"Well alright then, I'll show you what a normal brain looks like." he then dramatically holds up his finger, and slams it down on the paper.

"Jayden?" I ask, "Jayden?"

"Oh, what's wrong with Jayden?" he asks me with a frown

"It sounds a bit like a popular kid name. Like, the kid who ditches school early to go do drugs."

"Does not."

"Does too."

Then I feel a small kick, and I flinch.

"See." I mutter

"Even he doesn't like it."

"Great, so you've passed your bad judgement onto my son." with that sentence, Xander gets up, and walks over to the closet.

"We should get going. Scoobie meeting soon."

'Right." I say as I carefully pull myself up from the couch. Carrying this much extra weight on you isn't easy.

I stumble across the floor to the bathroom. Just as I shut the door, I feel a shooting pain run down my spine. I double over in pain, and then it's gone. Just like that. A wave of panic runs through me. Something's not wrong with this baby, is it? Or, could this be a contraction?

"No." I tell myself, "Too early. It's normal."

So I proceed to throw cold water on my face, and I then I turn the handle, and walk out of the bathroom.

"Ready?" Xander asks, throwing on his coat.

"Yup." I carefully get my own, and he helps me to get it on. Then I grab my purse, and walk out the door.

It takes me a full minute to get down the stairs. I really hate being pregnant.

Then I hop into the car, and we drive off.

About halfway there, another round of pain hits me. I close me eyes, and try to focus on breathing. Now there's no doubt about it. This is a contraction. It has to be.

Luckily, when the pain subsides and I open my eyes, I see that Xander didn't see anything. I'm only going to tell him when I'm absolutely sure. There's no need to worry him.

When we finally reach the Magic Box, I run as fast as I can inside.

I can see that the sign on the door that usually reads 'open', is now the opposite. I hear the familiar *ding* of the bell as I make my way inside the threshold.

"Ah, good, your here." Giles says, as we enter

Him, Buffy, and Anya are frantically walking around the store, picking up lots of weapons lying about.

"What's going on?" I ask, fearing the worst

"Well it seems like we miscalculated the time of the ritual." Giles speaks, as he puts an axe in a bag.

"So it's time to go and kick some godly ass." It's the first normal thing I've heard Buffy say in a while, and it gives me a little boost of comfort.

"Alright, cool. Where do we start?" I ask, as I walk forward to pick up a knife. Of course I'm scared, but this has been coming for a while, so maybe it's just time to get it over with.

"Hold on one moment." Xander says, as he walks in.

"You can't seriously think you're going to be fighting."

Xander fixes me with a very serious gaze, that I return.

"And why wouldn't I be?" I ask him, expressionless

"Are you actually asking me that?" he hits me with the same face, and looks bewildered when I don't say anything."You're nine months pregnant Willow. You think I'm gonna let you go out in the middle of this and get yourself, and our son killed?"

The rage in his voice hits me with a iron fist. I have no idea why he would think I wouldn't be going out there. I can see that everyone else in the shop has stopped moving, but I don't care.

"Well I don't think it's really your call Xander." I answer him, cooly

"It most certainly is." he replies, "That's _our_ baby you're carrying. _Our_ baby. You really want to risk his life, to do what?"

"Come on Xander," I tell him, my voice gaining ferocity with every word, "You know that I am one of the best fighters in this pack. My magic is one of our best chances of winning."

"Your magic isn't going to do much good when you're focus is all off. I have seen how its getting harder for you to even do simple spells now that you've got another life with you."

I mean, it's true, but I am not losing this argument.

"So you expect me to sit here waiting, wondering what's happening to all of you? And what if the world does end? You would rather me be here all alone than with you? If I'm not there, there's a higher chance of you failing, in which we all die, including me and the baby. If I'm there, yes, I could die, but I also could not. Get with reason!"

And with that sentence, I storm off into the other room, and gather the remaining weapons in a duffel bag. My blood is boiling after that fight, and I can tell that I haven't had the last of it.

I hear footsteps join with mine, and I spin around to yell at Xander more, when I see Giles standing in front of me.

He fixes me with a look, and before he can speak, I blurt out, "Don't you dare come and try to talk me out of it as well."

His eyes crinkle with a silent laugh and replies, "No, I know better than that. But you do know that he is only trying to protect you."

"I know." I answer, truthfully, "But still, he has no right to-" and I am suddenly cut off by another round of pain. I close my eyes, and try to cover it up as best as I can, but I can tell that I have not fooled Giles.

"Wait, you're in labor?" he asks, bewildered

"Shhhh!" I whisper at him, "Yes, but nobody can know."

"Okay, now I am starting to agree with Xander." he tells me in a hushed tone

"Oh what real difference does it make? Same odds." I reply, as I pull the strings on the bag together, and hoist it over my shoulder.

"You want to have a baby in the middle of a battlefield?" Giles says, with a pointed look

"No. But I'd also rather not have a baby in a world being run by demons."

"Fair point."

I slowly walk out of the room, and join the rest of the group huddled around the table, discussing tactics.

After ten minutes, I think we have come up with an okay plan. And, by that I mean the usual plan, wing it.

Just as we are about to leave, I run up to Xander.

"I don't want to be fighting before our iminent deaths." I say, grabbing his hand

"Yeah, okay." he tells me, with a kiss on the forehead

And with that, our little group of six walks out the door, with Buffy in the lead, followed by Spike, then me and Xander, then Anya, and then with Giles, bringing up the rear.

It only takes ten minutes before we stand in front of the huge looming tower. I take in it's size, and it is actually kind of impressive for a couple demons. It looks pretty sturdy, with it's huge iron bars and hundreds of stairs.

Just then, a figure at the top catches my eye. A small girl with long straight brown hair is tethered in rope to a platform. Dawn.

Before I can point this out to anyone, another contraction hits me. I squeeze Xander's hand a bit too tight, but I think he takes it as a good luck squeeze, so I'm fine.

I don't really need to point out Dawn though, as everyone is already staring directly at that spot.

"I need a distraction." Buffy says, in a commanding tone, "Then I can go up."

"We've got it." I tell her, as I take Xander's hand and walk up.

"Good luck!" Anya calls in our direction

I tilt my head, and see Xander staring at me. I give him a little smile, and he returns it.

"I love you, no matter what." he tells me

"And so do I." I return to him

Then we charge forward, running straight into the first group of Glory's minions. From then on, it's utter chaos.

I can hear the noises of both human and demon being hit, and returning hits. I think Giles, Anya, and Spike join us at some point, but I'm not sure. All I'm aware of is the enemy. They surround me, and I get hit many times.

It's just then that I hear the sound of a blast, and I am propelled backwards by something. I crash into a piece of wood, and just then, right on cue, another contraction hits. I fight through the pain, get up, and take my aggression out on a minion right next to me.

"Nocere!" I scream, as a burst of red escapes my fingers, and envelops the demon. He cries out once in pain, and then falls to the ground, dead to the world.

I charge forward, and cast the same spell upon two figures I see running towards someone who I think is Anya.

I continue like this for a few minutes, until I feel a sharp pain unlike any other in my abdomen. Panicked, I search myself for a wound, until I realise that this is just the contractions, getting worse. I decide that this couldn't wait any longer. I need to find Xander. This baby is coming soon.

I desperately search through the crowd, throwing spells at anyone who gets in my way. I still can't see anything.

"Quaerere!" I shout as I picture Xander's face in my head. A burst of orange light shoots up from a point in the sky. I run to it, and sure enough, I see Xander, stabbing a couple of the things.

"Xander!" I scream as I run towards him. "Xander!"

"Willow!" I can hear him yell back, but I'm losing focus

Suddenly, two large arms grab my shoulders, and I'm flung backwards into a group of goblins. I land right on my stomach, and I begin to panic even more.

"No!" I place my hand on my middle, and try to talk to my child through the din, even though I deeply doubt he can understand any of it. "You survived so much little one. Just a little longer, please. Just a few more hours, and then I can hold you in my arms."

"Willow!" I can hear Xander call out for me again, but I am in so much pain I can barely move. The demons are swarming me now, and I know that I don't have much time left.

"Trabem." I say as forcefully as I can into the sky. A jet of blue appears, and I close my eyes, awaiting the end.

However, it doesn't come. Instead, I hear a demon scream, and a hot substance pours onto my leg.

I let my eyelids open, and I see Xander standing in front of me, stabbing all those around him.

"Wil, are you okay?" he yells at me

"Kinda!" I yell back

I can then see his arm lowered next to me to help me up, and I grab onto it for support. I pull up, just in time to see Xander kill the last one around us. Damn, he's pretty good at fighting.

"Xander." I tell him quickly, as to not face any interruptions, "I'm in labor. Have been all day. I think he's coming now."

"You're in labor?" he asks me, extremely flustered, "How could you not have told me?"

"More important things." Then I notice a thing creeping up on him, "Duck!" I say commandingly.

He does, and shoot a beam of light at the creature behind him, who immediately falls to the ground.

Xander opens his mouth, but before he can say anything, a streak of light shoots across the sky.

"No!" I cry, "The portal!"

Xander and I both turn to face the sky, and I see a most terrifying sight.

It is ablaze with light. Purple beams are shooting in every dimension, and I can see demons start to arise.

Without thinking, Xander and I both reach for each other. I grab on to him tightly, as I know I want his to be the last face I ever see.

"I love you so much." I say, as a tear falls down my cheek

"And I love you so much more than you could ever know." he replies

Time seems to freeze. As I watch the world fall into pieces, an odd sense of calm fills me. So much calm, that I don't even notice the trickly of water that falls from between my legs.

Then something happens that catches my eye. I can see a figure jump into the portal. There is then a big "Boom!", a spurt of electricity, and the portal closes. The night sky returns to normal, like nothing was wrong.

"What the hell just happened?" Xander asks me, his eyes filled with fear and confusion

It's then when I hear a small thud, on the ground a few feet away from us.

I turn my head, to see a person lying on the ground. My breath catches in my throat when I realise who it is.

The slim body and long blonde hair of a girl lies on the pavement. Her eyelids are closed, and she looks to be at peace, despite the many slashes running down her body.

"Xander." I choke out, as my legs begin to give way.

"What is i- Oh my God." Xander has clearly also spotted the girl, as we both walk to her, gripping each other for support.

"Oh my God."

Buffy Summers lies on the ground, dead.

I can see people drawing in. Giles, and Anya, and Spike, and Dawn, but my brain doesn't register anything. The only thing I know is that my best friend is dead. I sob escapes my lips, and my legs stop working. I drop to the ground, and tears pour out of my eyes. Another huge round of pain hits me, but I don't care, as it is nothing compared to what I am feeling.

The world around me begins to spin. I lose track of where I am, or who I am. The only thing I know is pain. Buffy is dead.

A scream pierces the air, but I have no idea where it's source is. It doesn't matter. Nothing matters.

I think someone puts their hand on my shoulder, but I can't tell. Someone calls my name, but it sounds foreign.

Suddenly, someone's lips are pressed onto mine, and I break out of my trance.

Xander is right in front of me, holding my hand.

"Willow." he calls out, "Come on. Get up."

He pulls my body up, but I am still half in shock. I don't know how he isn't.

"Willow. Come on." he drags me forward, but my legs refuse to move.

"Please, Willow. We have to go to the hospital. The baby."

Those last two words pull me completely back into reality. The baby. Oh God, I'm having a baby. I grab his hand, and relief floods through his face. We begin to walk away, and I see that nobody is looking. It doesn't matter anyways.

Another rush of pain hits me, and I double over. I give a little involuntary squeak, and by the pained expression on Xander's face, I know he is having flashbacks.

"Fine." I tell him, through the pain, "I'm fine. Lets g-", I'm then cut short as the shooting sensation worsens, and I give out a louder yelp.

I keep walking, desperate to move forward. This can't be happening. This _can't_ be happening.

Suddenly, a new feeling hits me, and I know that we have no time. I can feel my son's position moving, and I know that he is coming out now.

"Xander." I tell him through gasps, "Xander, he's coming. Now. We have to-" and then I give out a yell, as the pain worsens.

"God, Wil. Where can we?" Xander's head is moving around quickly trying to find an enclosed space.

"I'll call the ambulance!" I turn my head at the new voice, and see Giles running up to us. You can tell he is beyond sad, but it seems like it has momentarily turned into determination. Maybe it's because he knows that we're all he has left.

"Thank you." I tell him, with a smile, that I barely managed as another wave hits me.

"There!" Xander gives a triumphant yell as he points to a small building in the distance.

"Great." I grab on to Xander's shoulder, and him and Giles help me to slowly maneuver to the shack.

The pain is so intense I can barely breathe. I don't know how people have ever managed to do this. How my mom managed to do this.

As I give another yell, Xander gives me a reassuring smile, and says, "I know it hurts Wil. But just think, when this is over, you'll be holding a baby."

"Yeah." I tell him, "Our baby."

My legs are just about to collapse again when we reach the doorway. Xander throws it open, to reveal the dusty inside.

It's a simple wooden cottage, with the good old fashioned rotting floorboards. There is a semi-functional couch however, that I stumble over to.

"Alright." Giles says, "I'm going to go wait for the ambulance."

And with that, he sprints out of the house, clearly not wanting to see what comes next.

"Alright Xander, you feeling up to this?" I ask him, with an awkward smile

"Don't really think I have a choice, now do I?" he tells me, clearly trying to be as comforting as he can, but I can tell that he is equally as terrified.

I take off my bottoms as quickly as possible, and lay my sweater over my exposed legs as a type of blind. It's the best I can do.

"Anything there?" I ask Xander, as he looks

"Just a baby." he tells me, with a slight grimace.

"That looks painful."

"Ya think?" I ask with another muffled yell

"Uh, Wil, I think it might be time to push." he stumbles, very uncertain

"Are you sure?" I ask him, extremely panicked

"Well I've never really delivered a baby before, I'm giving it my best guess."

"Fine." and I do, very hard.

This is the worst pain I have ever been in, in my life, and that's saying something. Well, that knife of Glory's was bad, but this is a close second.

As I give one more push, I hear a small wail.

"Oh my God." Xander says, as he grabs something

"What is it? Is he here?" I yell, panicked

Xander stands up, and holds up a small baby, that is screaming at the top of his lungs.

A rush of happiness hits me. He's here. He's fine. We are all fine. Well, maybe except for Buffy. But I don't have time to think about that now.

Xander lays the boy on my chest, and I hug him as tightly as possible.

I feel tears pour out of my eyes, and I can see the same is happening to Xander too.

"You did so good." I say, while looking into Xander's beautiful eyes. God, I hope this kid has his eyes.

"Hey, I just got him out. You did all the hard work." Xander gives me a small kiss on the forehead, and then does the same to our baby.

He stops crying, and looks up at us with an expression that shows us he is very unpleased.

There is a bang from behind us, and Xander and I both jump.

Two EMT's walk in, followed by a panicked Giles. The look on Giles's face is priceless, as he takes in the scene. I bet there is a lot of blood, although I can't see.

The next minutes go down in a blur. I am put into a stretcher, and rushed to an ambulance. Xander climbs in next to me, and our son is in a little incubator to my left. They assure me he is fine, but I won't believe them until I hear it from the doctor.

About an hour later, I do, and a wave of relief runs through me, and I can feel all of my tension leave. It's a great feeling.

When the doctor leaves, Xander and I are finally alone.

I am in the hospital bed, and Xander is wrapped around me under the covers. Our son is in my arms, and Xander is stroking his face very tenderly.

"He's a little lion cub." I tell him, "After all he's been through, he's a perfect healthy baby."

"Must of gotten that from me." he replies with a laugh, "You know how many objects I have been thrown into and not died? A lot."

I chuckle, as I stare down into the face of the new cub, taking in every feature.

He has a little nose, like me, and rosy red cheeks. He has a mop of red hair, but Xander's dark brown eyes.

"What about Thomas?" Xander asks me

"Thomas." I repeat, as I stare at our baby, "It fits."

Xander and I exchange a smile, before we look back at the little bundle.

"Welcome to the world, little Tommy." Xander says, as he gives Thomas a little kiss on the cheek.


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER 11**

 ***Willow Point of View***

It's only been four hours, and I can always see why new parents are always so exhausted.

Every time I lay my head down to sleep, a yell comes from the small cradle next to me. I then carefully pick Tommy up, and nurse him until he's gone again.

After the seventh time, I tell Xander it's his turn.

All I get in answer is a small groan from next to me.

I take my elbow, and jam it in his shoulder.

"Ow!" he yells, as he jumps up

"Great. You're up." I tell him, sarcastically, "Go feed the baby."

"With what?" he asks, confused.

"The bottle!" I almost shout at him

He slowly moves around the bed, and grabs the bottle resting at the bottom. Then he picks up Tommy, and lowers it into his mouth, from which he drinks hungrilly.

"This kid eats more than I do." Xander says, as he is slowly rocking his arms

"And we all thought it was impossible."

I am so overcome by tiredness, I don't even wait for a response before I fall asleep.

…

A few hours later, I wake up with a tap on my shoulder.

"Hey." Xander whispers, "Giles is here."

"Oh." I reply, with a small yawn, sitting up.

"Anyone with him?"

I think Xander gets what I'm trying to ask, because he replies with, "No. Dawn's not here."

"We have to see her." I tell him truthfully, "I miss our little Dawnnie."

"Yeah, I do too."

Xander than plants a kiss on my forehead, and gets up to go and open the door.

I put a smile on my face, and try to straighten my hair, but I doubt it works. I probably look like a total mess right now, but I guess I have a pass.

A beam of light shines into the room, as Xander walks in, followed by a very sad looking Giles. His face does seem to light up a little bit when he sees me though.

"Congratulations you two." he says, as he walks over to where I am on the bed, and gives me a small hug.

"Thanks." I tell him, as I wheel Luke over to where he is standing.

"Giles, meet Thomas Rupert Harris." Xander says, as he walks over and picks up our son. He gives Giles a brief look, before handing the baby over.

"Oh my goodness." Giles says with a smile, "He is a real handsome lad. And you couldn't have picked a better name. I am truly honored."

"Well you have done so much for us." I reply, "It was an easy decision."

"He looks just like you, Willow." he tells me as he looks over with a smile

"And thank God for that." Xander replies

"Giles," I ask him breaking the mood, "how's Dawn doing?"

Giles's face hardens as he looks at me.

"Well, not too well." he says, grudgingly, "She mostly just sits in the corner of the shop. She's not injured, but she just stares out into space. She does seem to be a little excited about coming here to meet Thomas though."

"Well that's good at least." Xander replies, his face pale, "Anything we can do to help."

I think about it for a second, and then ask Giles another question. Xander and I had talked about this, and we think it's the best solution.

"Do you think Dawn would like to keep living in her house?" I ask him, blurting out the words,"I mean, Xander and I would be more than happy to move in with her if it helps. We just want her to feel comfortable."

"Although she might very well be waking up every four minutes due to this little guy." Xander coos at Thomas, as he gives a big yawn.

"Well, that is an extremely generous offer. I can talk to her." Giles tells us, "I was thinking about bringing her and Anya over later. Would that be alright?"

"More than alright." I give Giles a huge hug, and I hope that he gets that we are here for him too. He would never talk to us about his problems though.

"Well, I think it is time for me to be going." Giles tells me, as he passes me Tommy.

"Well thanks so much for coming." I tell him, as he walks over and hugs Xander.

"Yeah, thanks. Means allot."

"Of course."

And with that, he grabs his coat, and walks out of the door.

The moment I hear it slam, my eyes start to fill with tears. I quickly put Tommy down as to not disturb him, and then I break.

Since I was in labor when Buffy died, I haven't really had time to process what happened, and neither has Xander. We've both been too concerned with the baby. Hearing that news about Dawn pushes me to a breaking point, and I can't stop.

Xander crawls in next to me, and begins to shoosh me as I sob, although I can tell he is as well.

It's all just too much to take. I feel as though I have been a horrible friend. I should have been mourning Buffy the moment she died, but I was just too concerned with my life. She deserves so much better than that.

Dawn deserves so much better than that too. She didn't even cross my mind until this morning, and after all she's been through. She was in a God's hands for four months, and she just lost her sister, and I wasn't there to comfort her. All she had was Giles and Anya, and neither of them are particularly good at talking to her. I'm supposed to be there, and so is Xander.

And then, I'm being a horrible mother already, because I'm breaking down crying when I'm supposed to be taking care of him. That's my job. I have to protect him against everything, and make sure he grows up healthy and strong. It's only been a few hours, and I'm already failing.

Xander and I sit there for hours. Just holding each other, and crying. The bed sheets are soaked, and my skin is on fire from all the body heat.

After a few minutes longer I raise my head, and tell him, "We should probably stop now. If Dawn is coming, she shouldn't see us like this."

As I tilt my head, I can see that his face is all blotchy, and his eyes are very wide and puffy. I suppose mine are the same.

"Good plan." he tells me.

I carefully shift all of my weight to my feet, and hoist myself out of the bed. I tiptoe into the small bathroom that is leading off the side of the bed, and walk to the sink.

Sure enough, the small mirror in front of it reflects my face. Anyone, no matter how dumb, could tell that I've been crying.

I cover the cold faucet with my hand, and turn it. A waterfall of clear liquid comes out of the tap, and I put my fingers under it.

The water is frigid, so it does a good job of waking me up as I splash it over my face.

After I take a towel next to me and dry off my skin, I look back into the mirror. It looks a little bit better, and I can probably pass it off as sleepiness from having just given birth.

I stumble out, and Xander walks in after me. I take my position back at the bed, and find a remote on the small table.

My pointer finger presses down on the small red power button at the top of it, and the small TV hanging from the wall comes to life, and the colors from it cover the walls.

Some boring news station is on, talking about a bus crash, so I change the channel to 25, and my favorite show pops on.

"Spongebob Squarepants?" Xander asks me skeptically as he walks out of the bathroom, his face looking less sobby, "Shouldn't a dignified witch be watching something a little less cartoonish?"

"Maybe," I tell him with a mischievous look, "but I'm not really feeling that dignified right now."

"Fair point." he replies as he crawls back under the covers next to me.

He wraps his arms around my small form, and we sit there for a little bit, watching the show.

After a little bit, a little whine from the cradle next to me gets us to move from our positions.

I look over, and see Tommy squirming around in his bed, with a big pout growing on his face.

"Aw, poor baby. What's wrong?" I ask as I pick up the little redhead and cradle him close to me.

"Maybe he has some sense in him and he is protesting against Spongebob." Xander snickers

"You like Spongebob too!" I reply, while trying to calm the baby

"Let's not talk about that." he jokes as he strokes Tommy's face.

"Hey little dude. What's up? You hungry?"

"Could be." I tell Xander, looking at the clock, "It's been two hours."

I unclip part of my hospital gown, and Xander helps me to get Tommy to nurse. He eats very hungrilly.

"Guess it wasn't spongebob." I triumphantly tell Xander

"Well we've still got time."

We then resume our previous position, interrupted a few minutes later by a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Xander yells

Giles enters, and his eyes immediately grow wide at the sight in front of him. He blushes, and walks out of the room.

"Oh come on dude, Tommy has to eat!" Xander yells out, giving me an exasperated smirk.

Tommy then takes his head away, and looks at me, clearly telling me he's done.

"It's alright Giles, you can come in." I say as I hand the baby to Xander, and re-clip my gown.

"You sure?" he asks from the hallway.

"Yes." I reply, with a slightly embarrassed smile

The door pushes farther open, and a very pink Giles walks in, followed by Dawn.

The moment Dawn sees me, she runs over and gives me a huge hug. I immediately wrap my arms around her, and soothe her as she begins to cry (although I am fighting off the urge to do so myself).

"I was so scared." she tells me, her head buried in my shoulder.

"I know." I tell her, stroking her hair,"I know."

She breaks away a few second later, and turns to Tommy.

"And who is this?" Dawn asks

"This my little Dawnnie," Xander tells her, elevating the baby,"Is Thomas Rupert Harris. Or Tommy for short."

"Oh my goodness, he is so adorable!" she squeals as she looks at me,"Can I hold him?"

"Of course." I smile at her, and Xander carefully passes him off.

Dawn cradles him like she would a piece of delicate china. She is staring into his eyes with such love that I am taken aback.

"I didn't even know you were pregnant." she laughs at me. She seems much happier than what Giles described to us. I'd like to claim that as our victory, well, more our son's.

"I didn't really either." I reply, truthfully

"I'm so happy I finally have a nephew!" she laughs,"He is my nephew, right?"

"Sure." Xander smiles at her

"Yay!"

So, we spend the next few hours catching up, and everything is surprisingly normal, considering all that has just happened.

When nearing dinner, Giles states,"Well Dawn, I do believe we should be going. It's getting late."

"Yeah okay." she says, handing Tommy to me

"When are you being discharged?" she asks hurriedly, "And when can I go back home?"

"Well the doctors said that we could leave tomorrow." Xander says, "And we could probably spend tomorrow night at your house."

"The whole permanent move process will take a while though." I add

"Great!" Dawn gives a big smile, and walks over to me. I hug her, and she moves on to Xander.

"Thank you so much you guys." she waves, "for everything." then she walks out the door, followed by Anya and Giles after a quick goodbye.

"That went amazingly well." Xander says

"Yeah." I reply, passing Tommy to him,"Really didn't expect that."

"Nor did anyone."

Xander then takes his place at the edge of my bed, and he lies Tommy down on his legs, and starts playing with his feet.

"Xander." I say

"Hmm?" he replies, still laughing at our son

"This whole Buffy being dead thing isn't going to be good in the long run you know." the thought has been plaguing my mind for a while, so it's good to finally get it off my chest.

Xander stops for a second, and looks at me,"How so?"

"Well," I reply cautiously, "once word gets out among the demons that the slayer is gone, they will start coming in in hoards. And, if we try to fight them off,"

"They'll pick us off until they get full control of the Hellmouth." Xander finishes

"Pretty much."

We sit in silence for a few minutes, until Tommy starts to squirm. Xander immediately picks him up, and bounces him around a little until he soothes back down. Then he gets into bed next to me, and sandwiches Tommy in between us.

Then we share a nonverbal agreement. I mean, it doesn't really need to be shared, as it's pretty obvious, but we do anyway. We promise each other, and Tommy, that no matter what happens to us, he will always be safe. The moment he was born our roles in this world changed. Now we have to not only look after ourselves, but also look after this new life. It's now our job to put his needs before our own, and as terrifying as it is, I'm ready.


	12. Chapter 12

**HI guys! I want to thank you for all of the reads and reviews, it means so much to me! I also wanted to let you know that I don't think I'm going to mention a funeral for Buffy. I just think it would throw off the current storyline, and mess up the characters. So just imagine one did happen, even though I'm not going to mention it.**

 **CHAPTER 12**

 ***Willow Point of View***

"Are you sure it's clipped in properly?" I ask Xander for the hundredth time

"Yes, WIl, I'm sure. As sure as I was two minutes ago."

"I know, but I don't want our son being thrown out of his seat and go splat like a little pancake."

"I don't either, but it won't happen."

"I'll just go and check one last time."

"Willow."

"You know what, I'm just gonna sit in the back with him just to be safe."

Xander gives me a sigh, as he takes his place at the steering wheel.

We just signed the discharge papers, and left the hospital. It is so great to be out in the open air again. Tommy is clipped away snuggly in his car seat, but I just need to make sure that he's fine.

I sit in the small middle seat next to my baby, and clip the seatbelt into place. Then I take my right hand and place it into the carrier, where my index finger is met with a little fist. I smile. Babies can grip so hard.

Right now, this child is the human embodiment of adorable (and I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom). His bright red hair contrasts nicely with the pale blue onesie, and his dark brown eyes are wide open, and staring into my own. The light from the open window also shines nicely on his skin, giving him a warm glow.

"You ready?" Xander asks me with a reassuring smile

"I guess."I reply, nervously

"Hey," he looks at my face,"Everything is going to be fine okay? It's literally five minutes."

I nod, and he turns away and starts the engine. Then we begin to drive away, and a cloud of fear grips my heart.

What if something goes wrong? What if we get into a crash, or the car explodes, or there's a demon?"

I grip Tommy's hand even tighter, and he gives a little groan. I quickly loosen it though, as I don't want to hurt him. In turn, I take my other hand, and hold on to the car handle as tightly as I can for reassurement.

The trees outside go past in a blur. It seems like we are going way too fast.

"How fast are we driving?" I ask Xander

"Normal speeds Wil." he says, not taking his eyes off the road.

It really seems too fast. Instead of asking him again and driving him crazy though, I revert my gaze down to the quietly stirring baby and bite my lip.

Tommy gives a faint gurgling sound, and bubbles blow out of his mouth. I chuckle, and it brings me back to my senses.

He's fine. Everything is fine.

After three painstakingly slow more minutes, we end up in front of the apartment building.

I shakilly get out of the car, and move around to grab the carseat. I then follow Xander up the stairs, and into our apartment.

"Welcome to your temporary home Tommy." Xander says, grinning from ear to ear.

We stand there smiling at the important family moment for a second before I say, "We should probably get packed."

I walk into the closet, and pull out a huge blue suitcase that lies inside of it. I throw in multiple shirts, pants, skirts, and leggings from my closet, along with a few pairs of underwear.

Then I grab my toothbrush, and I pack a few spell books along with my bag full of ingredients.

"Do you think the whole crib will fit into the car?" I hear Xander yell from the other room.

"Don't think so." I yell back, as I throw a stuffed cat we got for Tommy into the bag.

Finally, I pack a bag full of binkies, and bottles, along with other formula and diapers and other baby things.

Xander comes in with a bag full of wood (the crib), and I tell him to pack his clothes while I load the rest into the car.

The thought of going back into that car with the baby scares me to death, but we've got to do it.

I haul the wood downstairs, and shove it into the trunk, making sure to leave enough space for the suitcase. Xander comes down the stairs a few minutes later holding Tommy, and I run in to get the bag.

Just as I'm about to close the door, a weird feeling hits me. It's like, the end of an era. It makes sense, but there's just something so final, that I'm scared I'll lose part of myself when I close that door.

It's like, the old Willow is inside, and this new motherly type Willow is slowly growing inside me.

Having a baby can't change you so much, can it? No, it can't, it's fine.

I repeat this over and over in my head, but the thoughts still emerge.

Before I can do anything rash, I slam the door in front of me and turn the key. Then I run down the stairs without looking back. It's like pulling off a band-aid.

I run into the parking lot and shove the suitcase into the back. Then Xander closes the trunk, and gets into the front seat, with me right behind him.

"Let's go." I tell him, determined to get out of this place as soon as I can

"Righty-oh." he replies, driving off down the street.

For one moment, I snatch a glance behind me, and watch our little apartment fade away, but I don't feel much. It's good. It's all good. I am lying through my teeth.

…

About ten minutes later, our car pulls into the Summers' driveway.

The moment the engine stops, Dawn sprints out of the house, and grabs our suitcase.

She is talking very eagerly, and I can only make out tidbits of what she's saying, "Hi, good to see you, you get mom's room, cleaned out shelves, so much fun!"

I follow her, holding Tommy's car seat, and see that she is leading us into Joyce's old room. Guess that's where we're sleeping.

Sure enough, Dawn plops our bag onto the bed, and I look around the room.

She has actually done a miraculous job cleaning.

The bookshelves are all cleared off, and I can see a few boxes piled up in the base of the closet. There are also no clothes hanging up in there, and a wide space was left in the corner (probably for a crib.)

"Thank you, so much Dawnnie. This is so thoughtful." I tell her, smiling

"I just wanted to make things as easy as possible for you." she tells me

Before she can continue talking, she is cut off by two pairs of footsteps coming up the stairs.

Xander emerges at the door, holding the bag of wood, and Giles is right at his toes.

"Ah, Willow, it is so good to see that you made it out alright." he tells me

"Yes, I mean, hospitals aren't really that hard to navigate, but we did it." I reply, grinning

"Dawn, you really cleaned this place out." Xander says, looking at her

"I tried." she replies

"Well you did great." Xander then plops down the wood in the corner, and walks over to give Dawn a huge hug.

"Better get started on this crib before Tommy gets too uncomfortable all cramped up in there." he says, as he walks over to the corner with a set of tools in his hand.

I don't remember him packing tools, but maybe Giles gave them to him.

"Well we will go downstairs then." I say, beckoning Giles and Dawn out of the room

We trot down the stairs, and into the living room, where I set down Tommy's car seat on the table.

"Can I hold him?" Dawn asks, running in

"Of course." I reply, unbuckling Tommy and handing him to Dawn, who immediately starts cooing at him, and sits down on the couch with him on her lap.

I smile, because it's great to see her so happy. I really hope that we caused some of it, but you really have to give Dawnnie some credit. She's stayed strong. Stronger than I ever could be.

"Willow," Giles says pointedly, "would you care to come with me in the backyard for a moment?"

"Sure." I make sure Dawn is okay with the baby, and then follow Giles through the kitchen, and into the garden outside.

"What's wrong?" I ask, at the sight of his grim face

"Well, it's just that, I wanted to make sure that you were alright with Dawn in your care. I don't know if you've figured it out yet, but we are in a bad position here. If the demon community finds out about Buffy being," he pauses here for a second, and takes a deep breath, "dead, then they will surely swarm Sunnydale. And if we try to stop them, we will become instant targets, and we aren't very strong without the slayer."

"It's occured to me." I tell him, trying to look brave

"I know that you are a very powerful Wicca," Giles continues, "but I need to make sure that you know the danger we are in. I need to make sure you can protect her."

"Giles," I respond, attempting to sound reassuring, "I understand the risks. I've known from the moment Buffy died. If anything happens, Xander and I can help, we can do it. He knows too. We, we will take care of her."

Giles then gives a brief nod, and his face softens, "I'm so sorry to lay all of this on you, right after you had a baby and all, but it's just, we never get a break do we?"

"Nope." I tell him, with a grin," But we can deal. They don't know yet. We've got time."

"That's all we can really ask for."

I reach over, and embrace Giles in a hug. After a few seconds, I break away and begin to walk back into the house.

When I reach the front door however, I realise that Giles isn't with me.

I turn my head to see him standing in one corner of the garden, staring at the setting sun in the distance.

I can feel my mouth twitch in a sad smile, but I turn back around, and continue to head forward.

I know this must be hard for him. Although he's close to me, Xander, and Dawn, there was always a special connection he had with Buffy. It was like he was the father that she didn't have. He understood her in ways even her mother couldn't. I know that every day must be hell for him, and unlike Dawn, I don't really think cute babies can help him out.


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello everyone! So, I don't really know if it will come up in this chapter, but I just wanted to let you know that for the big baddies, I'm going to skip over the whole trio bit, and just go straight to the first. I honestly found them super annoying. I also don't know if I'm going to add the potentials. I'll probably mess up some rules of reality though, so if you don't like that, well, this is an AU. Hope you enjoy Chapter 13!**

 **CHAPTER 13**

 ***Willow Point of View***

"For the last time before I leave, are you sure?"

"Oh my god Xander, yes, I'm sure."

It's been a week since I was let out of the hospital, and I was just able to convince Xander today to go back to work.

"But what if you go insane without another fully grown person in the house?" he asks me, obviously trying to stall, "Or what if there are demons? I don't want you being alone with demons."

"Xander, I'll be fine." I reply, honestly, "I'm strong. I can handle one day alone. I might even stop by the Magic Box to say hi to everyone."

"Okay, but please be careful." he tells me, opening the door

"Hey, this isn't my first day on the Hellmouth." I give him a quick kiss, and then he smiles and walks down the pathway, to the car.

I stand in the doorway, and watch the small green car slowly move out of the driveway and down the street.

I'm actually kind of looking forward to this day. It's my first day alone with Tommy. Now I can do whatever I want with him and Xander can't say anything. Maybe I can even show him a little magic firework show!

I quietly shut the door (as not to wake up the baby), and walk into the kitchen where I pour out some cereal into a bowl. Then I walk over to the fridge, grab the milk, and pour an adequate amount into the dish.

My feet tiptoe into the living room where I turn on the TV, changing the channel to Spongebob Squarepants. The best of all the shows.

I sit there for a few minutes, before the sound of crying interrupts me.

I give a little sigh, and trudge up the stairs to see Tommy thrashing around in his crib, his little face red and all screwed up in a scowl. You never get a simple thirty minutes to yourself with a baby.

"What's up little dude?" I ask him, scooping him up

"Diaper?" I take a peek and see a very wet diaper

"Well that's an easy fix."

I then proceed to clean him up, and dress him in a bright green onesie with small pink flowers. It was one of the things I wore when I was a baby.

Then I take him downstairs, and place him in my lap as we continue to watch the episode.

Much to Xander's annoyance, Tommy does actually seem to like Spongebob, well, as much as a baby can like anything. This kid is totally going to be that yellow sponge for Halloween, and Xander really can't do anything to stop it. It would really suck if that whole turning into your costumes thing came back this year though. I would really prefer my baby not to be a sponge.

After four more episodes, the network switches to a different show, and I'm left with nothing to do.

I guess a little walk to the Magic Box might actually be nice.

So, I drop Tommy in his little Pack-and-Play, and go upstairs to change out of my pajamas.

My fingers fly through my closet, as I try to find something to wear.

I eventually land on a long pink dress embroidered with very pretty green vines. It's more of a summer dress than a fall one, but I don't really care. It's not too bad of a walk anyway.

So I plop it over my head, and run to the bathroom to brush my teeth and attempt to run a comb through my gnarled hair.

Eventually, I succeed, and proceed back down the stairs, to find Tommy kicking his legs around and smiling, seemingly fascinated with a small butterfly that is flying around outside the window.

I grin at him, as I grab the black stroller next to the door, and push it open.

Tommy seems angry at me when I pick him up, and disturb his butterfly watching, but he's contented again when we go outside for real.

I then triple check that the door is locked, and finally walk down the small pathway leading to the sidewalk.

It's actually a gorgeous day.

The sun isn't too bright, or too dull, and the air is a very pleasant temperature. There also aren't a lot of bees out (which is a plus).

The best part about this walk however, is how happy Tommy is. His gurgling laugh echoes out almost every minute, as he observes a cool insect, or bird, or cloud.

It's amazing how much he laughs, especially because he is actually not supposed to until he is much older.

I guess the whole staying alive thing wasn't the only miracle this guy had. Although, laughing isn't much of a miracle. Well then again, maybe it is in the world we live in.

However, after about ten minutes, a weird feeling starts to creep over me. Something feels strange.

I look around, to find nothing out of the ordinary, but the feeling just refuses to go away.

I give a little frown, and quicken my pace, eager to reach the safety of the shop.

After about ten more minutes, I finally arrive at the door to the Magic Box, and I push it open very quickly, and wheel the stroller inside. Then I park it next to the door, and grab Tommy out, very happy to have him in my arms, where he is safe.

"Oh, hello Willow!" Anya says enthusiastically from behind the counter

"Hi Anya." I reply, walking over to her.

I crane my neck around, and see the shop completely empty.

"Slow day?"

"Yup. But it's good to have some company."

Then she walks over to where I am standing, and begins to play with Tommy, who I am still tightly grasping.

"Is Giles here?" I ask her

"Um, yes, I believe so." she answers me, straightening up, "I think he's in the back."

"Thanks."

I then adjust my hold on Tommy, and run into to the training room at the back of the shop.

Sure enough, Giles is there, sitting in a stool in the corner, staring out the window.

"Hi Giles." I tell him, making sure to make a lot of noise as I walk over, so he registers my presence.

"Oh, hello Willow." he tells me, turning his head around to face me, "What brings you here?"

"Just a little bored back at the place. Figured I'd stop by."

He gives a little nod, and then turns back to the window.

"Um, there is actually something else." I add

The fright in my voice gets Giles's attention, and he turns back around to face me.

"What is it?" he asks, urgently

"Well, it's nothing really," I start off, "It's just, when I was walking here, I got this feeling. It was like something wasn't right. I can't explain it, but it really spooked me."

"Was there anything suspicious looking about where you were?" Giles asks, standing up and walking out of the room

"No," I tell him, following him out and towards the big table in the back, covered with books, "It kind of felt like I was being watched though. I just, I don't like this Giles."

"And neither do I." he replies, opening up a book at the center of the table. I can't tell what it is, or what he could possibly be looking for in a book, as we don't really know what's going on yet, if there even is anything.

My thoughts are suddenly disrupted by the sound of heavy footsteps at the door.

All of our heads turn in the direction of the sound, but we can't see anything.

"Willow," Giles says to me calmly but forcefully, "go and take Tommy into the back room of the shop right now. Barricade the door."

"Giles, what's going o-"

"Now!" he cuts me off so forcefully, that I immediately turn on my heels, and walk into the room. I shut the door, and pull down the bar that blocks any entry.

The second after I pull it down, a huge crash splits the air from the other room. I can hear screaming, and loud booms as shelves fall to the ground.

I quickly search the room for a place to hide Tommy, and I find a small box just big enough for him to fit in, with little holes cut out at the top. It'll have to do.

I run over, shove him in, and give him a kiss, before I close the lid.

Then I run over to the door, and lift open the bar.

I take a quick breath, and charge through.

On the other side, total destruction meets my eyes.

All of the bookshelves are broken on the ground, and there are small pieces of glass everywhere. Anya is lying unconscious on the floor next to the shattered desk, and Giles is kneeling in the corner with blood running down his forehead.

In the very center of the room, there stands a huge yellow creature with very pointy grey spikes jutting out from every inch of its body. It also has huge red teeth, and it's eyes look like those of a snake, ready to hunt.

The moment it sees me emerge, it comes charging towards me, its teeth bared.

"Prohibere!" I yell, pointing my hand towards the beast.

It immediately stops, but it's eyes are still looking daggers into my soul.

"Exite!" I scream at it, trying to get it to leave, but it doesn't

"Exite!" I yell again, but it doesn't work. Instead, I can see its muscles begin to twitch, as the binding spell I cast on it begins to break.

"Exite!" I try one more time, but I am cut off as the beast comes charging forward.

I barely have time to move out of the way, before it hits my arm with one of its spikes, which would have surely been a fatal blow.

A gush of red appears, and I begin to feel a little dizzy.

"Protegas me pecus quoque occidite!" I yell, and a gash opens up on the demon's side, but it doesn't seem to do much.

It just gives a howl, and then proceeds to charge me again, but I jump out of the way, and it crashes into another bookshelf.

"Eiciam est sagitta per cor eius!" I yell at the demon, and an arrow lodges itself into its center.

It stumbles back a few steps, and howls as it rips the arrow from its skin.

I am so light headed right now from the bloodloss, that I don't think I have a long time before I pass out.

The demon glares at me, and I prepare myself for pain, but none comes.

Instead it crashes to the floor on its side, a giant sword in it's back.

Giles steps out from behind the body, and runs over to me.

"Are you alright?" he asks, looking at my arm.

"Yes." I reply, looking around for some cloth to help apply pressure to the wound, "Just a little woozy. How's Anya?"

"Anya? What's wrong with Anya?" Giles asks, as he hands me his sweater, obviously reading my mind

"She's unconscious." I tell him, pointing to the corner before I crumple up the sweater, and hold it to my arm.

Just then, an ear splitting wail reaches my ears, and I run back into the room to extract my son from his prison.

When I open the lid, I see Tommy thrashing around wildly, with tears pouring out of his panicked eyes.

The sight makes my heart break. He should never have to look like that.

"Shhh," I comfort him as I pick him up one handed and hold him to my chest, "you're okay baby. We are all okay. Everything's going to be okay."

He quiets down a little bit, but he's still crying very heavily.

I bounce him around as I walk into the other room, where Giles is helping a very confused Anya get up from the floor.

"How many times does this shop have to get destroyed?" she asks hopelessly, as she stares around at the mess surrounding us

"No idea." Giles replies, leading her to the table.

"Okay, what the hell was that?" I ask, sitting down at one of the chairs, and putting Tommy down on my lap, using my hands to hold the sweater in place.

"No idea." Giles replies, taking off his glasses and wiping his eyes, "All I know is that there are probably more coming."

"So they know then." Anya pipes up, looking morbid, "They know that the slayer is dead."

"Most likely, yes." Giles states grimly.

"I have to call Xander." I say, getting up and passing the still crying baby to an extremely uncomfortable looking Anya.

"I'm going to tell him to pick up Dawn from school and meet us here. Then we can come up with a game plan."

I run over to the counter, to find the phone miraculously still intact.

I quickly dial Xander's number, and use my shoulder to hold the speaker up to my mouth.

After a few rings, a voice answers.

"Hello." a deep unfamiliar voice appears on the other end

"Um, hi, who is this?" I ask, sure that I dialed the right number

"This is Jordan Wess. I work with Xander down at the company. He's working right now, so I have his phone. Can I take a message for him?"

"Oh, hi Jordan, my name is Willow. I'm his girlfriend. Is there any way that I can speak with him?" I ask desperately, not even caring at how the stupid the word 'girlfriend' sounds to identify our relationship.

"Well, I'm afraid that he can't really come to the phone right now. He is in the middle of a huge project."

I cut him off before he can finish, "I know, but please, tell him it's an emergency."

There is a moment's pause, before I hear Jordan say, "Alright, give me a minute."

"Thanks." I reply, and there is complete silence on the other end.

I'm beginning to think that he forgot about me, until I hear Xander's voice on the other line, "Hello? Willow? What's wrong? What happened?"

"Xander, thank god," I say, relief filling my insides, "There was an attack at the Magic Box. There was a demon. He knocked Anya unconscious and Giles and I are injured. Giles thinks that there might be more coming. I need you to go and pick up Dawn, and bring her here."

"Oh my god, is everyone, are you, is Tommy okay?" he stammers, clearly frightened

"Everyone is fine." I reply calmly, "But I need you to get Dawn. We don't know what kind of danger we are in yet."

"Yes, right." Xander stammers, "I'll be there as soon as I can."

Then, there are three small beeps to signify the end of the call, and I put the receiver back down on the hooks.

I walk back over to the table, to see Tommy settled contently in Giles's arms, with Anya pacing panicked around the floor.

"He's on his way." I state, as I sit down across from Giles, and stretch my arms out to take Tommy back.

Giles hands him to me, and gets up to check the gash on my arm.

"Well it's not bleeding as heavily." Giles tells me, trying to sound reassuring

"At least that's something." I mutter, clutching onto Tommy for support, as he drifts back to sleep.

Then Giles wraps the sweater tight around my arm, and goes to the bathroom to get a small box labeled, "first aid".

He comes back to me, and takes off the sweater.

Then he takes out a small gauze pad, and pours rubbing alcohol onto it, which he places onto my cut.

Instant seiring pain runs up my arm, and I give a small squeak, as the medicine works its way into my bloodstream.

"Sorry." Giles murmurs, as he grabs a big bandage and wraps it around the wound.

"I don't think it will need stitches, but I'm not a doctor." he says, standing up and walking the box back to the bathroom, where I can hear the water running, "It's just deep."

"Thanks Giles." I say very appreciatively as he comes back to the table

"No problem." he replies as he stares out the window to his left.

We stay in our positions for a few more minutes, before a very panicked Xander and Dawn run through the door, there eyes growing wide as they stare at the mess, along with the dead demon corpse in the middle of the room.

I run over, and envelop Xander in a huge hug, which he immediately returns. His head is buried in my neck, and I can feel him shaking.

"It's okay. We're okay." I whisper to him

I can feel him nod, and I pull away.

He then grabs Tommy from my arms, and he holds him tightly to his chest, his eyes closed.

I walk over to Dawn, and hug her as well. She seems to be almost as frightened as Xander, so I attempt to reassure her as well.

Ater a minute of this, I take her hand and we walk back to the table, where Giles is sitting, staring at a book.

"Any ideas about what that is?" Anya asks Giles, pointing to the dead demon on the floor

"None at all." he replies

"We need to get out of here." Xander adds, looking at me, "I mean, now that they know where we are, any number of them could be headed our way right now."

"You're right." I reply, getting to my feet, "And I think I know exactly where we need to go."


	14. Chapter 14

**CHAPTER 14**

 ***Willow Point of View***

"Oh you have to be kidding me." Xander says in response to my sentence,"Spike?"

"Well what other choice do we have?" I reply, defensively "They know where the Magic Box is, which means that they probably know where we live. We don't know for sure that they know where he lives. He's also strong. He can help defend us."

"But how can we trust him after all he's done?" Xander says, slightly raising his voice

"We can't." I tell him, "But he's all we have. Millions of demons could be walking over here right now."

"Don't you think I know that?" he yells, but quiets down quickly when Tommy starts to whimper, "But I also know that Spike is dangerous. He will hurt us."

"No." Dawn's voice chimes out of the blue, directed at Xander

"Dawn, please, don't get into-" Xander responds, but is quickly cut off

"No!" Dawn yells, "Spike wouldn't hurt us. He promised Buffy that he would protect me. He was always kind to me. He cares for me"

"But he was only doing that to try to get into Buffy's pants." Xander yells, shocking all of us

"Xander," Giles adds, calmly, "I do agree that we must be wary of Spike, however Willow is right. He is our only chance at this point. We have nowhere else to go."

Xander gives a defeated shake of his head, and turns to me forcefully, "Fine." he grunts, "But I am not letting either of you out of my sight with him around."

I give a nod, and Giles shakes his head towards the door. He walks out, and is immediately followed by Anya and Dawn. I start to move forward, but I am held back by someone grabbing my hand.

I quickly turn around, to find my arm enclosed in Xander's grasp. Before I can do anything, he pulls me into a short but intense kiss.

After a minute, he breaks away, leaving a giant smile on my lips.

"Come on." he says, taking my hand again and running towards the door

"So we're good then?" I ask, as we sprint through the streets, trying to catch up with the group

"I'm pretty sure that's what that meant." he tells me, smiling

After a minute more, we reach the rest of the pack.

"What took you two so long?" Anya asked, staring at us, "We were starting to get worried." then she quickly catches herself, and adds, "Well, some of us were. Not me."

"Tommy started crying." I stammer, gesturing to the sleeping baby in Xander's arms

"Yeah sure." Dawn mutters, giving a knowing glance, "How far until we get to Spike's anyway?"

"About four minutes I think." Giles replies, looking around

"That's good." Anya says, "Because the sun is setting, and I would rather not be eaten by a vampire."

"The feeling is mutual." Xander adds, still trying to catch his breath

We continue down the road, until we reach the graveyard that marks the edge of Sunnydale.

"Here we are." Dawn says, as we walk over the threshold.

"Maybe someone should go in first." Giles pipes up, "So he doesn't get overwhelmed."

"I'll go!" Dawn yells, as she throws up her hand, "If Buffy told him to protect me, I might be the best shot."

"I'll go with her then." I say, as I walk forward

"Willow, I don't like this." Xander says, as he grabs my arm again, holding me back

"Xander, I'll be fine." I reassure him, as I pull away from his grip

"Yeah." Dawn adds, "And if you hear us screaming loudly, that'll be your cue to come get us."

Xander gives a small smile at this, and I give his hand a little squeeze before I walk further into the graveyard with Dawn by my side.

After a minute, we reach the crypt.

"Spike wouldn't hurt us, right?" Dawn asks me

"No." I reply, as I bring my fist to the door, "He wouldn't do that. Plus, the chip."

I give three booming knocks, and we wait.

After ten seconds of no response, I decide to try again, harder.

"Bloody hell, I'm coming." Spike yells through the door.

I barely have time to wipe my face clean of emotion, before the door swings open, and a very tired looking Spike emerges. He straightens up the moment that he sees us, and an odd look crosses over his face.

"Oh, it's you." he says, his eyes scanning our bodies

"Spike," Dawn says as she takes two steps forward, and looks him in the eyes, "we need help. The demons know that the slayer is dead. They are attacking us. Could we please stay here with you?"

Spike just stares at us, and doesn't say anything.

"Spike," I chime in, "Spike, can we stay in your crypt for a little bit, while we work out what to do next?"

He stares at me, and gives a little nod, before turning around, and walking back into the house.

"I'll go get the others." Dawn says before scampering off

I look around for a moment, thinking about what to do, before I decide to follow Spike.

The air inside the crypt is very dirty. It kind of smells like mold, mixed with dirt.

Spike walks forward, and plops down into one of the smelly armchairs lying next to the TV.

"So, Spike," I say hesitantly, walking towards him, "how've you been?"

"Alright." he says, giving me a glance. Then he opens his mouth again and says, "You're not fat anymore."

"Oh, yeah." I reply, giving a little smile, "I had the baby. His name is Tommy."

"So I'm going to have a newborn living with me?" he asks with distaste

I give a nod, and an annoyed glare crosses his face before he turns back to the show.

After a minute more of silence, several pairs of feet cross the threshold into the crypt.

Dawn is leading the procession, followed closely by Xander, who's nose crinkles up in disgust as he comes in.

"Hello Spike." Giles says as he walks in, "Thank you for letting us stay here."

Spike merely nods his head, barely acknowledging anyone's presence.

"He only seems to have one bed, and I am not sleeping on this floor." Anya says, eyeing the ground, disgusted

"Yeah, maybe we should have brought sleeping bags." Dawn mutters, also scanning the room.

"I suppose I'll run to the shops and get some." Anya says, already starting to walk out of the room

"I'll join you." Giles comments, following her out.

"Send the squad if we aren't home in an hour." Anya's voice booms out from the distance.

Then, there is silence, only to be disrupted by the roar of the television.

"So, shall we go sit in the corner?" Xander asks, nodding to the corner of the room farthest away from Spike

"Why not?" Dawn answers as we walk down and lower ourselves onto the hard ground.

I hold my arms out to Xander, and he reluctantly places Tommy into them. Then he stretches out his arms, and puts them behind him, helping him to stay up.

As I look at my son, a warm wave rushes through me. I suddenly feel calm, and I get a weird feeling of peace. It feels like nothing bad can happen to us. I know it's a total lie, but it's comforting.

"What are we going to do?" Dawn asks, breaking the peace

"I have no idea Dawnnie." Xander responds, looking at her pityingly

"Well I do." I pipe up, raising my glance from the baby to Xander.

The idea has been running through my head for a while, but it seems more and more like the only option the more desperate our situation gets.

"I'm going to do a resurrection spell."

After those words come out of my mouth, Xander and Dawn just stare at me in disbelief. I even see Spike crane his head around from his place on the chair.

"Are you serious?" Xander asks, his mouth hanging open, "A resurrection spell? Isn't that dangerous?"

"A little." I respond truthfully, "But I'm not a weak little witch. I know what I'm doing."

"You can really bring her back?" Dawn asks, a glint of hope shining in her eyes

"I think so." I answer, "I mean, I've looked into it before. If we were going to do it, it would have to be soon. Because, you know, alignment of planets and all that, but yeah, it's possible."

"And how would this work, exactly?" Spike suddenly asks, as he turns off the TV, and walks over to us. He actually looks like he's paying attention, which is different compared to all that I've seen him do so far.

"Well, I would need a few ingredients." I respond, trying to wrack my brain, "And then we would go to Buffy's grave. A few people would hold candles. I would perform the spell, and then, Buffy should be awoken."

"Willow," Xander asks, looking at me, "I know that you are extremely strong, but this is still very risky. A crazy amount of things could go wrong."

"But they won't. I would do it correctly." I tell him, eagerly

"But you can't be completely sure." he answers, looking at me urgently, "Also, Will, look, this is being a bit selfish, don't you think? I mean, Buffy deserves peace. If we brought her back to life just for us, then-"

"But we don't know if she's at peace!" I blurt out, cutting him off, "I mean, remember Angel? He was being tortured in a hell dimension when he died."

"But that was because he didn't die a normal death." Xander adds, trying to calm me down

"Oh, and you think Buffy did?" I ask him, getting angrier at his refusal to listen to me, "You think jumping into a magical portal was a normal death?"

"No," he responds slowly, touching my leg, "but Willow, we saw her body. She was gone."

"It's just a body." I respond, jumping up, "It's just a body. We don't know where _she_ is. We have no idea what happened to her soul."

I can see Dawn tearing up out of the corner of my eye, but it doesn't matter. I need to make Xander understand.

"Willow," he tells me, standing up as well, and walking towards me, "I don't want to fight. I just want us to really think about what we are doing before we do it. This is dark stuff we're thinking about messing with. We need to make sure that we know the risks."

I give a little nod, and look up at him, "Okay, we know the risks. But don't you think that they're worth it?"

"Hell yeah." Spike says, looking at me with a huge smile on his face, "To get the slayer back? Anything's worth it."

"Stay out of this Spike." Xander tells him, angrilly, "We aren't going to do this for you and your messed up attractions with her. It's for Buffy."

"Are you sure she'll come back normal?" Dawn speaks for the first time in a while, looking at me.

"I mean," she continues, the occasional tear still spilling from her eyes, "we read this story in school. It was called 'The Monkey's Paw'. And in it, this couple wished their dead son back, and he came back messed up. That's not going to happen to Buffy, is it?"

Dawn fixes me with such an intense yet helpless look that I am taken aback.

"No," I tell her, trying to sound as confident as I can, "It won't. I can do this spell properly. It'll all be fine."

A silence hits us again, until Dawn says, "Maybe we should talk to Giles. Then we can get his opinion."

"No!" I cut her off, "There is no way that Giles will be on board. We all know that. He never really does anything even remotely risky. He can't know."

Xander and Dawn nod, and Spike gives a little happy laugh before he says, "So redhead, what do we need?"

"Um," I stammer, trying to remember what I read, "I think it was deer blood, some black candles, and the Urn of Osiris."

"The Urn of Osiris?" Spike repeats, "That won't be very easy to get."

"Yeah, well, we'll find it." I reply, trying to sound like I know what I'm doing

"The deer blood and black candles should be easy enough though." he adds, very eagerly, "I can run over to the Magic Box and grab some candles tonight if you want."

"If you can find any in that mess." Xander comments, looking at the floor

"Why?" Spike looks confusedly at Xander, "What happened to the Magic Box?"

"Demon." Dawn spoke up, her eyes training to the bandage still wrapped around my arm

"Ah, well that's a shame." Spike replies, half sarcastically before walking back to the armchairs and returning to his show.

As the energizing magic planning mood goes away, I am left feeling utterly exhausted.

I look over to Xander, and see his eyelids drooping as well.

It's then I realise how much I miss him. I mean, we've spent time together after the baby came, but we haven't really been _us._ We've been too preoccupied with Tommy.

"Hey Dawn," I ask, looking over to her, "would you mind hanging with Tommy for a second while Xander and I go patrol?"

"Mind?" she responds, reaching her arms out, "Gimme."

I smile, and carefully place the sleeping baby into her arms. Then I walk over to Xander, and pull him out the door.

It's night outside, and the cool air comes in little gushes of wind, making leaves run across the ground.

The full moon shines brightly, and is met with all of the other little pinpricks of light dotting the sky.

"Bring me out here to fight some more?" Xander asks, grinning at me tiredly, "Or do you really want to patrol?"

"Neither." I respond, as I pull him closer to me in a long kiss.

After a few minutes, it gets more heated, until he pulls away.

"Okay Wil, as much as I love this, you do know that we are currently making out in the middle of a graveyard, next to the home of a vampire?"

"Yeah, but what other place do we have to go?" I ask, leaning in again

"Good point." he murmurs.

After a few minutes, we stop, and simultaneously grab each other's hands.

Then we slowly begin to stroll around the graveyard, enjoying the calm night, and of course, each other's company.

"You know," Xander says, breaking the silence, "this is the first real time we've spent alone ever since Tommy was born."

"Just picked up on that, did ya?" I smile at him

"It's just weird to think about."

There's a pause, before Xander blurts out, "We're gonna be the cool parents, right?"

I look over at him confused, "What?"

"I mean," he looks at me, but the way his words come out so thoughtfully it sounds like he's been contemplating this for awhile, "I don't want to stop being the Willow and Xander that we are just because we have a kid. We're still gonna be us, right?"

It is such a relief to know that I am not alone in thinking these things, "I think so." I reply truthfully, "I mean, we will change a little. Probably mature some, and become a bit more stern sometimes, but we will still be us. We've certainly changed alot since we met Buffy, so. This is just a little bit more." I pause for a minute before I add, "But let's not think about that right now. Let's just think about us, right here, now, together."

And we kiss again, and stand there like that for a while until the noise of crunching

footsteps brings us back to reality.

"I guess we should head back." Xander says, looking towards the noise, "It sounds like Giles and Anya have the sleeping bags."

"Guess so." I reply, taking his hand

This had been one of the best nights we have had in awhile. At this one moment, everything seems fine. We are happy, and we are together. It's just us, and as much as I love Tommy I do miss that a little bit. Tonight, is perfect.


	15. Chapter 15

**CHAPTER 15**

 ***Willow Point Of View***

"Oh my God Anya, how did you get this?" Xander asks in bewilderment as Anya places the Urn of Osiris down on the table between us.

"Ebay. Stupid desert troll. Didn't know its value." She answers, simply, staring at the ground.

"This is amazing Anya." I tell her, giving her a smile

"Yeah, but it's so weird looking." Dawn adds, slowly turning the Urn around.

"Well, you know, old dark artifacts aren't really known for their ornate appearances." I say, nerves starting to run up my spine

"So, we do it tonight then?" Spike asks, coming up behind me, "Buffy will be back tonight?"

"That's the plan." I reply, with an extremely nervous smile.

"So, how are we going to pull this off?" Xander asks, looking up at me from the sleeping baby in his arms

"Well, I need three people to hold candles." I mutter, trying to sound confident

"So that will be me, Xander, and Spike." Anya says, matter of factly

"Hey, no!" Dawn pipes up, "Why can't I do it?"

"Because," Spike answers, "you're the only one that can get Giles out of the house."

"Yeah," Xander adds with a grin, as an obvious attempt to lighten the mood, "you'll really need to flaunt the puppy dog eyes, and pouty face."

"Oh, that'll be easy." she replies with an even bigger smile, "But where should I take him?"

"Try the movies, or back to your house or the magic box or something." I answer, "Just keep him out for as long as possible."

"And what about Tommy?" she asks, looking at the child still cradled lovingly in Xander's arms

"He's with you." Xander tells her, giving her a look

"Ooh fun!" she squeals, "Night out!"

"Alright, so we'll start all of this around ten." I say, putting all of the ingredients in a small satchel

"Sounds good." Dawn says, walking away.

I am about to follow her, when a thought hits my brain.

"Hey Anya," I say loudly, walking over to her, "can I have some help with something?"

"Why me?" she answers, distastefully

"Just, come on."

I grab her hand, and pull her outside of the crypt.

"Hey!" she yells, "Watch it!"

"Anya," I tell her forcefully, looking straight into her eyes, "I need you to do something."

She seems taken aback at my forwardness, and she answers quickly, "What is it?"

I pause for a minute, thinking about how to best say my next statement.

"During the ritual," I begin, "there will be a sort of test."

"A test?" she asks me, confused, "And what does this test entail?"

"Well, I'll probably be cut. And, there might be some snakes. Whatever happens, it won't be fun." I tell her, honestly

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"Well, when this happens, Xander's going to try to pull me out." I begin, trying to speak as clearly as I can, despite the rising panic in my voice, "Whatever happens, the connection cannot break. I can get through whatever trials they have, but you have to promise me Anya," I stop for a moment, and grab her hands, "Promise me, you won't let the connection break."

I stare at her, but she doesn't respond.

"Anya!" I say more intently, "You have to promise-"

"Fine!" she cuts me off, "Fine! I promise I won't let him break the connection!"

Relief floods through me, "Thank you."

Then I do something completely random, for no apparent reason. I grab Anya's shoulders, and pull her into a hug.

She squirms in protest, and I let go, giving her a smile.

Then I clear my expression, and walk back into the crypt.

"What'd you want with Anya?" Xander asks as I walk in

"Oh, just wanted to ask a demony question.'' I stammer, trying to come up with the best explanation.

"Oh, ok." Xander answers uncertainty, but I walk over and pull him into a hug before he can ask anything else.

….

We all wait in a solemn silence for the next hours, playing with Tommy to try to pass time.

He's the only one who seems generally happy right now, giggling and smiling like nothing's wrong. Well, of course, to him, nothing is wrong.

At about 10:30, I see Dawn look at me questioningly, and I give her a small nod.

"Hey Giles," she says, walking over to him, "I was thinking, I've kind of been missing my old house lately. Do you think we could go over there for the night?"

Giles looks at her questioningly, and straightens his glasses, "Well Dawn, as much as I want you to be happy, it's the middle of the night. It would be extremely dangerous."

"I know that," Dawn answers, and I can see a small tear run down her cheek, "but it's just, I miss Buffy so much, and I can't." Damn, she's good at this.

"I just, I need to be home."

"Oh come on Giles," Xander chimes in, "It'll be good. There haven't been many vamps out lately. And maybe you can even take Tommy along. Then you can get some of his things from the house."

"Well I really don't know if that," Giles starts, but is quickly interrupted by Dawn

"Please?" she asks, with giant puppy dog eyes

"Well," Giles responds very uncertainty, "I suppose so."

"Yay!" Dawn yells, as she runs over to me and yanks Tommy out of my arms, "Let's go!"

"Now?" he asks, as Dawn pulls him up very aggressively

"Yes now!"

And with that, they run out of the door, into the night.

The crypt entrance slams with a 'bang', and all of us immediately jump into action.

"Who's got the bag?" Xander asks, hopping up from the ground

"I do." I respond, running towards the door

"Let's go."

We all take off, and run towards the small gravestone at the edge of the cemetery.

"Wait, why the hell are we running?" Anya asks, gasping for air, "We are doing it at twelve. We've got an hour and a half."

"Oh yeah, good point." Xander gasps, as he stops

We continue down at a normal pace, when Xander grabs my hand.

"You can do this." he tells me, as he eyes the nerves tensing up my face

"Yeah," I repeat, trying to sound confident, "I can do this."

I pause for a moment, before looking up at him, tears threatening to spill from my eyes.

"Xander." I say intently, "If something goes wrong,"

"Willow, don't." he starts

"Xander, please." I cut him off, "Just, hear me out." I take a breath and continue, "If something goes wrong, you have to take care of Tommy. Feel free to move on, just keep him safe."

"Willow you're not going to die." he tells me, grabbing my face, "I won't let that happen."

"But when magic starts to go bad, there's often nothing that anyone can do." I tell him, truthfully

"Willow, please."

"Xander, I need you to understand that if-"

I am suddenly cut short when he grabs my waist and locks his lips onto mine.

After a few seconds he breaks away, and says again, "Nothing is going to go wrong."

I give him a thanking smile, but before I can say anything else, Spike's voice rings out.

"Oy, love freaks!" he yells at us, "We've got a slayer to resurrect. Stop with the snogging."

"Right." Xander says, pulling me into another kiss just to get Spike annoyed

"Can you stop?" Anya yells at us, clearly extremely frustrated

I break away, giving a sheepish grin to Xander.

"Yeah, we should get started."

I grab his hand again, and we walk the few more paces forward until we are in front of Buffy's grave stone.

"Alright," I begin, reaching into the bag to grab hold of the three black candles lying inside.

"Each of you hold one of these."

Anya reaches over into my hands to grab one, and so does Xander. Spike stares at me for a moment uncertainty, before taking one himself.

"And now we wait." Xander says, sinking to the ground

"Now we wait." I repeat, dropping down next to him

Spike sits down across from us, but Anya just starts pacing around the grave.

Fear grips all of my insides. There is so much riding on this spell. If I mess up, everyone will pay for it. It's all up to me.

I nestle my head into the crook of Xander's neck, trying to let his body heat comfort me. Instead, I get more scared when I feel the intensity of his heart beat. I hold on anyway, because if I really die, I want this to be my last memory.

After what I estimate to be fifty minutes, I speak up.

"Anyone have the time?"

"Ten to twelve." Spike answers immediately

"We should get ready."

I stand up, and straighten my pants.

"Everyone got their candles?" I ask

"Yes." Anya answers, obviously annoyed

"Okay."

I take the Urn full of blood out from the bag, and lay it next to the grave. Then I kneel down.

"Light them."

Xander grabs the lighter from the bag, and proceeds to pass it around to the group.

I make eye contact with Anya, and she gives me a little reluctant nod.

"Okay," I say assertively, "here we go."

I steel myself, and then stare at the grave. I let my emotions become neutral, and my heartbeat slows.

"Osiris, keeper of the gate, master of all fate, hear us!" I begin, taking blood from the urn, and wiping it over my forehead and cheeks. It's surprisingly cold, and extremely thick and pungent.

"Before time and after, before knowing and nothing, accept our offering, know our prayer!" I am suddenly cut short by a searing pain in my arm. I can feel slash marks hitting my skin, but I try to block it out. I need to focus.

"Osiris, here lies the warrior of the people," extreme pain surges through me, as I feel little balls of energy run through my skin. It feels like my blood is on fire. I can feel my energy draining.

"Willow!" I can hear Xander yell

"No!" Anya yells back, "We need to keep the connection! She told me this would happen!"

"Block them out!" I scream into my brain

"Let her cross over!" the pain grows more intense, "Osiris, let her cross over!"

Suddenly, I can't breathe. It feels like a giant stopper was stuck into my airway. My throat is constricting.

I start gasping for breath. It's almost impossible to keep the connection, so I honestly have no idea how it's staying in place.

I try to continue, but I can't. The words won't come out.

I start gagging, and I can feel my throat expanding. Something is trying to force its way out.

I drop down, and open up my mouth, pushing my abdominal muscles together, trying to get this block out of my throat.

The pain is so intense. I think I might be dying.

After a huge ripping sensation, I feel the block coming loose. I look down, and see a huge snake emerge from my throat.

I can suddenly breathe again, and I gasp out, "Release her!" before crumpling to the ground.

A black wave envelopes me, and I pass out.

… **...Xander's POV….**

I am in a total panic. I can't feel any of my limbs. I just want to help her. I need to help her.

How could she have not told me? Why didn't she tell me? I would never have let her do the spell.

"Willow!" I can't stand it any longer. I don't care about the damn spell. I just need to get her out of pain.

I drop the candle, not caring what it hits, and I run over to my best friend.

"Willow!" I scream, as I grab her shoulders. "Willow!" I start shaking her. Her eyes won't open. Why won't they open?

I press my finger to her wrist, and a faint beat pounds against my skin. Thank god.

I am vaguely aware of a smashing sound, but I don't care. All I care about is Willow.

I wrap my arms around her back, and hoist her up into my grasp. Then I sprint. I don't really know what direction I'm running in, but it doesn't matter. I just need to get her away from there.

A rough thud then hits me, and I fall to my knees. There's a burning sensation in my thigh. I think I tripped over a tree branch. How horror movie of me.

Oh god, I tripped over a tree branch.

"Willow!" I scream, as I search the ground for her form.

"Xander?" I hear a small voice answer me from the distance

"Willow?" I yell back, "Is that you? Where are you?"

"Xander!" Willow replies, with a bit more volume. A rustle then reaches my ears, and I turn around to see a small figure wiggling in the leaves.

I rush over to her, and grab onto her waist to help pull her up. She is extremely frail, and immediately collapses back into my clutches.

"Xander. What happened?" she asks frantically

"You collapsed." I reply, as I stroke her hair comfortingly, "Then I took you over here. I fell, so you did too."

"What about Buffy? Did it work?" she asks, looking at me

"I don't know." I reply, shamefully

"You don't know?" she repeats, questioning my lack of information

"Let's go!" Willow runs out of my grasp, but immediately stumbles back when she realises she can't walk properly.

I run over, and scoop her up again. Then I run back towards the grave.

I stop, the moment that I see what's going on.

"Oh my god." Willow whispers

In the distance, I can see three blonde figures standing around in a circle, facing us.

The closest one is Anya, who is immediately followed by Spike. It's the third person however, that sends a chill down my spine.

Standing in the back, with an extremely scared expression, and a long black dress that covers her heels, is Buffy.


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER 16**

 ***Willow Point Of View***

"Buffy!" I drop out of Xander's arms, and stumble over to her. Anya grabs my shoulder to keep me up.

"You're here!" I reach over to touch her arm, but instead she jumps back.

"Buffy," I am completely shocked, "Buffy, what's wrong?"

When she doesn't respond I add, "Buffy, it's me Willow. I brought you back."

Buffy still does not show any sign of recognition. Instead, her eyes are wide and are darting around in every direction. She keeps drawing back, until she takes off into a sprint.

"Buffy, wait!" I scream, and try to run after her, but Spike holds me back

"I'll go." he then turns around and runs after her

"What the hell Spike?" Xander asks, walking up to me, "You seriously think you can help her?"

He doesn't respond. He just keeps running.

None of us do anything. I think we're all in a state of disbelief.

After a moment Anya speaks up, "So what do we do now? Go back to the crypt?"

"You can." I answer, "I'm staying here."

"To do what?" she asks as she looks disgustedly at me, "To try to mess her up more?"

"What do you mean?" I reply, anger rising

"Oh don't do that." Anya begins to walk up to me, so we are almost touching, "You saw what you did to her. She is seriously traumatized."

"She was just in hell for three months. How could she not be?" I answer, trying to convince myself while talking

"Fine," Anya yells at me, dropping her hands down in a 'do whatever you want' sort of way, "but when you realise that you destroyed Buffy, don't be shocked."

She then proceeds to storm away, up back towards the crypt.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Xander speaks up as he runs up to her, "You have no idea what you are talking about."

"Don't I?" Anya continues, not stopping her walk, "Everyone's thinking it, I'm just the only one smart enough to voice it."

"We might be thinking it," Xander says, dropping his voice low in an attempt to hide it from me, but it doesn't work, "but there's a reason that we never say certain things. This is the only way that we could ever get Buffy back."

"But how do we know that she wants to be back?" Anya yells back at him, in no attempt to stay quiet, "We keep on assuming that she was being tortured in hell, but nobody knows that!"

"Then why the hell didn't you mention this earlier?"

"Because nobody gave me the opportunity to!" she screams at him, "Nobody ever gives me a time to talk, and nobody ever even thinks about me. Nobody values my opinion."

"Then why are you still here?" he yells coldly back at her, "If you really think those things, then why don't you bother just leaving?"

"Because I'm in love with you!"

The words cut through me like a knife. I mean, there might have been a few signs here and there, but I never expected this. Oh god, he doesn't love her back does it? Oh, but why does this matter right now? It doesn't. Buffy matters right now.

I try to not focus on the rest of the conversation, but my mind wanders there anyway.

"What?" Xander asks

"I've been in love with you forever. You're just too blind to see it."

I can hear their footsteps stop.

"Why would you tell me this now? You know that I'm with Willow."

"I know you are, but you need to know. If you feel even the smallest bit the same way-"

"How could you honestly be saying this to me right now?"

"Xander, I'm leaving. There's nothing for me here. I have friends, and a family back in the demon world. I'm, I'm going back to them."

"So just because I tell you I have a girlfriend, which you already know, you're going back to demoning?"

"Xander, there's nothing here for me." she repeats

"I have to go."

There's then a set of loud footsteps, and silence.

I am in total shock. I can't move. All I can do is listen to the sounds, trying to piece together what's happening. This can't be happening. Anya, she's part of the group. She's one of us. Her love for Xander can't be the only thing keeping us here.

I can feel a tear run down my cheek. No, I don't want to cry, this isn't something to cry about.

I don't know how long I just stand there for, but eventually footsteps make their way down to me.

"So, Anya's gone. I guess this whole Buffy thing blew her over the edge. Where is Buffy anyway?" Xander is trying to sound very normal, but there's no way to hide the confusion in his voice. Even if I didn't hear that entire conversation, I would know something was up.

"Xander," I give him a look, and he seems to get the gist

"So you heard all of it?" he drops his act, and looks down at the ground

"Yeah," I reply, "but we shouldn't talk about this now. We need to find Buffy."

"Yeah ok, let's do that." he says dejectedly, "Can you walk?"

"Kinda." I answer truthfully

"Okay," he walks over to me, and I put one of my arms around him to have some support. It helps a little.

"Wait, maybe I should do a locator spell." I tell him

"Isn't it a little dangerous to be doing magic in your state?" he asks, concerned

"It's just a locator spell." I grin, and drop down to my knees. Then I focus on my emotions again, and do the spell.

A little light appears in front of me, and begins to slowly move towards the left.

"Alright, so we are following the mystical blob?" Xander asks skeptically

"Yup!" I cling back on to his shoulder, and we start walking with the light.

It starts going fairly fast, and I notice that I really can't keep the pace.

"Slow." I say commandingly to the orb

It obliges, and I'm able to limp fast enough to stay with it.

The energy blob takes us down many side streets, and through many dark alleys. Why do they always go for the dark alleys?

"So what are we going to do when we see her?" Xander asks me

"No clue." I tell him, gasping for breath between limps, "I'm just hoping that Spike didn't mess her up too bad."

"Oh god, I forgot about that." Xander replies

"Wait, stop." I command, putting my arm in front of Xander

"What's wrong?" he asks me, concerned

"The ball, it's getting bigger."

The little thing of energy is getting much brighter, and it's slowly expanding, leading into a small building leading off the alley. Then it gives a big burst, and disappears.

I walk up to the door, and wrap three times on the wood. There's no response.

"Should we try the doorknob?" I ask Xander, who comes up behind me

"Worth a shot."

I place my hand over the cold handle, and turn. It moves, and I pull it open.

Inside, is a dimly lit room with two red loveseats facing each other. A brown coffee table separates them, and there is a small blue lamp perched on it.

Sitting on the left seat is Buffy, and Spike is right next to her, holding her hand.

"Buffy," I speak quietly, walking forward slowly, "Buffy, it's me Willow, and Xander. Are you okay?"

"Yes." she murmurs quietly, looking at me

"I'm okay."

"Can, can I hug you?" I ask her, tentatively

"Yes." she whispers

I immediately run over, and pull her into a death grip. I can feel a tear run down my cheek.

"I missed you so much." I murmur into her hair.

I can feel a tear fall from her eyes as well, and she slowly wraps her hands around my waist.

Relief floods through me. She's here. She's alive.

"Buffy." Xander speaks up, and I break away, and turn to look at him

"Oh god, can, can I?"

He is quickly cut short by Buffy getting up, and running over to him. She envelopes him in a hug, and I can feel my eyes running.

"I guess that's my cue to go." Spike says, as he gets up, and walks out.

I have no idea what he said to her, but she's here, and that's all that matters.

"Should, we go home?" I ask Buffy, as I walk over to her.

She nods, and I grab her hand as we walk out of the building.

"Hey Wil," she says as she turns to look at my stomach, "you're bump, it's gone."

"Oh, yeah." I smile at her, "The baby's here. He's 3 months old. His name is Tommy Rupert Harris."

"Oh my god, that's that's amazing." she says as she cracks a small smile

"Yeah." I reply

"Wait, Rupert?" she asks me, skeptically

"Yeah, is was a real lapse in judgement." Xander replies, with a huge grin

We then appear in front of the Summer's house.

"Oh no Giles." I whisper to Xander

Buffy slowly walks up the stairs, and pauses before the entrance.

Xander and I stay a few paces behind though, to give her some space.

She takes a breath, and knocks on the door.

There's originally no response, but when she knocks again, footsteps emerge.

"Who's there?" Giles's voice calls out

"It's, it's me." Buffy responds slowly

Giles immediately opens the door, and his face is completely shocked.

"Buffy?" Dawn's voice echoes from upstairs, and she slowly emerges in the doorway. When she sees Buffy, she breaks into a sprint and throws her into a huge hug.

"Oh my god, it, it worked." she sobs, "The spell worked!"

"Spell," Giles mutters, and then it seems to hit him. He gives me such a glare that I am taken aback, but it drops in a second, as he runs and joins Dawn in the hugfest.

"Did you see that?" I whisper to Xander

"That look that Giles just gave you that looks like he's gonna kill you?" he answers with a smile

"Yup." I reply, "Maybe we should head in before he gets the chance."

"Good plan."

Xander takes my hand, and we walk over the threshold into the main room.

A faint cry hits my ears, and I run into our bedroom, to see Tommy thrashing around in his crib.

I have never been so relieved to see him.

"Aww, shh." I say as I run over to pick him up.

"It's okay. It's all okay."

I slowly begin to rock him, and I walk over to Xander, who puts his hand on Tommy's head and strokes his hair.

"Should we maybe bring him downstairs?" I ask in a comforting tone, to keep Tommy quiet

"Probably."

I give Xander a short smile, before readjusting my grip on Tommy, and walking down the stairs.

Giles, Dawn, and Buffy are all sitting down together in the living room.

Buffy and Dawn are on one couch holding hands, and Giles on the other.

"Ah, Willow," Giles says as he sees me, "may I have a word with you outside?"

This isn't going to be good.

"Uh, sure." I mutter, as I pass the still whimpering baby to Xander

"So this is Tommy?" I Buffy asks

"Yup!" Xander replies, walking over to her right after sensing a sympathetic look in my direction

I give him a look, before following Giles out of the building.

The door slams shut, and Giles immediately turns on me.

"Willow, what on Earth were you thinking?" Giles asks, rage emanating from his face

"I was thinking that Buffy was being tortured in hell and I needed to bring her back." I tell him, staring him down

"It was extremely dangerous!" he yells, "You kid have been killed, everyone on Earth could have been killed!"

"But they weren't," I interrupt, "because I'm good at what I do!"

"Because you were lucky!" he retorts

"No, Giles, it's because I have talent!" I yell back at him, "And plus, think about how much danger we were in. You weren't doing anything about it! Now with Buffy's back, everything will be fine!"

"Oh, you are so naive!" he tells me, "Everything is not fine now! How many things do you think you screwed up when you brought her back?"

"Screwed up? What on Earth are you talking about?" I have no idea what he's getting at

"You have no idea what supernatural forces you just messed with. People aren't supposed to come back from the dead. Death is final!" Giles begins clenching his fists, and he is looking daggers at me

"She didn't die a normal death! She jumped through a mystical portal!" I yell, trying to make him see my point

"It's the same thing!" he pauses before saying the next statement, "Willow, you are being extremely reckless, and stupid. You have no idea what you are doing. You are messing with forces far too powerful for you to dream of. This is above you Willow. You're just a girl!"

"Just a girl?" I repeat, with pure anger in my voice. How could he be seriously saying these things?

"I am an extremely powerful Wicca. I can do so many more things than you would think. And I would seriously watch what you say around me, if you don't want to get on my bad side."

"Is that a threat?" Giles asks, with a very surprised look

"I thought that was obvious." I tell him, walking forward, "But then again, I thought I was just a reckless little girl."

Then I turn, and storm back into the house and up the stairs.

I reach the bed, and throw myself into it. Then I drop to my knees, and start crying.

How could he say those things? And how could I threaten him? Also, what if he and Anya were right? I mean, what if I actually messed these things up? What if Buffy wasn't supposed to come back? What if I screwed everything up? And, what if Giles hates me forever? I mean, I wouldn't blame him. I might hate myself forever if I was him.

Xander immediately runs up after me, sits down next to me, and wraps me in a hug.

He's always there for me. Always. I don't deserve him.

"I love you so much." I cry out into his shirt

As a response, he just shushes me, and places his lips on my head.


	17. Chapter 17

**I feel so bad that I haven't uploaded the past few days. I was away. So, I'm going to upload 2 chapters today!**

 **CHAPTER 17**

 ***Willow Point Of View***

I wake up the next morning feeling completely awful. My stomach feels like it's going to explode, and my head is throbbing. There is also sweat plastered all over my face, and the sheets around me are drenched.

I climb out of the bed as quietly as I can (as to not disrupt Xander), and I half walk, half run into the bathroom.

I barely make it before all of my stomach contents empties itself into the toilet. Not again! Throwing up is the worst. I get up, flush the toilet, and then proceed to wash my hands in the sink. I also brush my teeth for good measure.

I tiptoe back to my room, and sit down on the bed. My stomach is already starting to feel horrible again.

I have no idea why I'm suddenly feeling so bad. I haven't felt this sick in a while. Not since, well the pregnancy. But I can't be pregnant again. It's, no, it's not that. Xander and I, we only did it once after Tommy, and we were careful, I think.

Oh god. What if I'm pregnant again?

My head starts to feel all clammy, and I can feel my body start to shake. The urge to vomit becomes irresistible again, and I sprint back over to the toilet.

When I come back to the room, I see Xander sitting up on the bed, holding Tommy.

"Someone got cranky." he tells me with a grin.

The grin slowly fades away as he sees the look on my face.

"What's wrong?" he asks me, looking concerned

"Nothing." I tell him, quickly sitting down next to him

"Just feeling a little off."

"Aww," he says planting a kiss on my forehead, "little Wil's got a bug?"

"Yeah." I tell him, "A bug."

I'm about to give Tommy a kiss, before I remember the vomit on my face. The need to barf surfaces again, but I try to ignore it.

"I'm going to go and make some breakfast." Xander tells me, "Maybe want some waffles?"

"Xander, please don't," I interrupt him, but he doesn't hear

"Or some eggs?"

At the word eggs, I can't resist any longer. I take off as fast as I can towards the bathroom, and throw up once again.

"Willow, you sure you okay?" he asks

"Fine." I respond, wiping my mouth

"I'm gonna run out to the store." I tell him, giving a little smile as an attempt to reassure him

"What do you need at the store?" he replies, skeptically

"Um, just something." I answer

"Well, maybe I should come with. I don't want you going alone." he tells me, grabbing my hand

"No, it's okay. I'm sure."

I quickly wriggle out of his grasp, and run to pull on a sweater.

"Willow." he says hesitantly

"I'll be back soon." I sprint down the stairs, and run out the front door.

This can't be happening.

I sprint down the street so I can reach the small 7 11 at the top of the street as fast as possible. I don't know how long my stomach is going to stay normal for.

Just then, a car pulls up next to me.

"Willow!" Giles screams, as he climbs out, "Why are you running? Is something wrong?"

God, this is really not the time.

"No." I tell him, "I'm just going to the store."

I pause for a minute before saying, "Giles, about what I said yesterday,"

"Willow, don't." he interrupts, "I should never have said those things. I was just shocked, and my emotions got the better of me. I'm sorry."

"No," I tell him, "I'm sorry. I should never have threatened you. I didn't mean it. I, I know I made a mistake, it just seemed like the best option. I'm, I'm sorry."

A tear drips down my cheek, and Giles runs up to me and pulls me into a hug.

"No, it's fine." he tells me, "We can fix this."

"But I messed everything up." I sob

"No you didn't." he pulls me away, and looks at me, "Buffy's back. You made her come back."

"I did do that." I say, with a small smirk

Then, a round of nausea hits me again, and I know I don't have much time. I turn around, and look for the closest bush.

The moment I spot one, I run over and empty all of my guts.

"Willow, are you alright?" Giles asks, as he runs over to me

"Yeah," I tell him, getting up and wiping my face, "Just been a little sick lately."

"Oh," he says, looking at me skeptically, "You going to the store to get medicine?"

"Something like that." I tell him

He seems to get the gist, and looks at me concerned.

"Willow, you're not. Are you?" he asks, searching my eyes for a clue

"I, I don't know. I'm just freaking out." I answer truthfully

"Well, let's go to the store then." he says, starting to walk forward

"You, you're coming?" I ask, confused

"If you want me to."

"Uh, sure."

I run up to meet him, and we walk the minute more to get to the shop.

"I'll be right out." I tell him

He gives me a reassuring smile, and I walk into the store.

The bell above the door gives a little tinkle, and I walk as fast as possible into the corner of the store, with the little shelves full of birth control, and pregnancy tests.

I grab two (just to be safe), and run to the counter, trying to avoid eye contact with the cashier.

"$4.31." she says with a smile, and I quickly rummage through my wallet to pull out a $5 bill.

"Have a good day!"

I throw the tests into my bag, and sprint out of the store. Giles is still waiting outside, as promised.

"All well?" he asks, looking towards my bag

"Yup!" I reply, way too enthusiastically

"Do you know where the closest bathroom is?" I ask only sort of awkwardly, looking around the street

"Uh, over at the McDonald's I think." Giles replies, pointing towards the restaurant across the street.

"Great."

I quickly look around for cars, and when I see none, run across.

I am about to walk through the door, when Giles stops me.

"Willow," he says, as he looks at me, "whatever happens, it's going to be okay."

I smile at him, and walk inside.

I immediately run towards the girl's room, walk into a stall, and slam the door.

 **Eight Minutes Later**

I am sitting on the toilet seat, and staring at the tests in my hands.

The results should be up right now. Why aren't they up?

Time passes more slowly than I could ever imagine. Every cell of my body is frozen. I'm completely transfixed by the sticks.

Why won't they just give the the damn results?

After a minute, the screen part of the test begins to change form.

I grab the tests, and stare at the screen.

Words slowly begin to form. Black letters scrawl upon it.

They both read, "Not Pregnant"

Relief floods through my core.

I'm not pregnant. Everything's fine. This is just a stomach bug.

I am so happy, that I almost skip out of the bathroom.

As I exit, Giles's face softens when he sees my expression.

"I'm not pregnant!" I say with a grin

It feels so great to say it so confidently out loud.

"Well that's great." he smiles back at me

So, we continue to walk back to the car in silence.

However, just as we are about to round the corner, a loud crash booms out. Then a noise of falling bricks follows it, and Giles and I immediately break into a sprint.

The Summer's residence is up in flames. Parts of it are falling down, and smoke is covering the street. There are horrible screams coming from the inside.

Without thinking, I sprint directly through the door.

The room inside is total chaos. There is wood everywhere, and you can't see two inches in front of you.

I take off my sweater, and put it over my mouth to try to limit the amount of smoke inhalation.

"Xander! Dawn! Buffy!" I scream out, but nobody answers

I scream louder, but there is still nothing.

Then a crash rings out, and the floor above my head breaks. I jump aside just as a body

falls to the ground. I see the long brown hair, and immediately know it's Dawn.

I rush over to her, and grab at her wrist. There appears to be a pulse, but it's faint. I grab her wrists, and pull her out as quickly as possible. When I reach the threshold, Giles runs over to me, and takes her.

I give him a nod, and run back in.

This can't happen. No, this can't happen! Xander and Buffy have to be here right? They have to be okay? And, oh god. Tommy.

"Xander! Buffy!" I scream out

I walk into the area that used to be the kitchen, and search for any life, but I see none. That's when I hear a faint yell come from upstairs.

I immediately take off in the direction, and sprint up the broken stairs as fast as my body will let me. In the center of the hallway is Buffy, lying on her back. Her eyes look glossy, and I again check for a pulse. I don't feel one at first, but when I try again, it is pounding very faintly.

I grab her wrists like I did Dawn, and drag her down the stairs (trying to cause as little damage as possible). Giles takes her from me, and I see the pained expression in his face.

"Xander?" he asks me, as I cough

I shake my head, and proceed to run back into the house, when he pulls me back.

"Willow," he says, "You can't go back in there. You'll die."

"I need to save them!" I say, running towards the door, "There all I have left."

The smoke has gotten worse, and it's now almost impossible to see in front of you.

I run back upstairs towards our bedroom, and search the floor, desperate for any sign of them.

There is absolutely nothing here.

No. They can't be dead. They _can't_ be dead. Xander wouldn't do this to me. He wouldn't die. He wouldn't let our son die.

I run into the bathroom, searching more and more desperately, but the smoke is getting so bad. I can't breathe. The air is too thick. I need to get out of here.

 **Giles Point Of View :)**

I pull Buffy's body down the stairs, and place her next to Dawn on the pavement.

I look around for any cuts, because I have to do something.

I can't help. I know that. But I have to feel like I can.

Just then Dawn gives a raspy breath, and I kneel down beside her.

"Dawn, are you alright?" I ask her, grabbing her hand

She coughs out a small, "yes," and I have a brief moment of relief, before remembering everything else that's going on.

Dawn's breath then becomes more desperate, and I reach out to her. She is gasping for air, and her pupils are getting much wider.

"Buffy?" she chokes out

"She's alright. She's out." I tell her

A smile crosses her face, but then it goes blank. Her grip on my hand loosens, and her head droops to one side.

No. This can't be, NO!

I make a fist with my hands, and begin doing chest compressions.

It's a very good coincidence that I took that first aid course.

Sirens start blaring in the background. They can't come fast enough.

I continue, but it's becoming much more difficult

After a minute, the ambulance and fire trucks pull up, and a few EMT's rush out to take over for me.

Three firefighters rush towards the house, but another stops in front of me.

"Do you have any idea how many are in there?" she asks me

"Three, I think." I tell her

She gives a nod, and rushes to join them.

I know in my heart that not everyone is going to survive this, but I don't let myself believe it. It's not going to help anyone.

A noise breaks through my thoughts, and I turn around to see Xander running up to me, holding Tommy. They are both miraculously unscathed.

"Oh my goodness." I say running over to them

"You aren't in the building?" I ask, very confused

"No, I, I followed Willow to the store a few minutes after she left. I wanted to make sure she was okay. What the hell happened? Where's Willow?" he answers, panic consuming his words

"I have no idea what happened. We came here, and it was like this."

That's when it hits me. Willow won't stop searching for Xander and Tommy until she finds them. And she never will find them, because they're here.

"Where is Willow?" Xander demands, shaking me

"Looking for y-"

But before I can finish my sentence, a huge crash emanates through the area, and the roof of the house collapses, taking out everything else with it, trapping anyone inside.


	18. Chapter 18

**RECAP: "Where is Willow?" Xander demands, shaking me "Looking for y-" But before I can finish my sentence, a huge crash emanates through the area, and the roof of the house collapses, taking out everything else with it, trapping anyone inside.**

 **CHAPTER 18**

 ***Xander Point Of View***

I see the roof collapse, but I don't believe it. Willow isn't in there. She can't be in there. She's going to walk out in one second, looking fine. She's fine.

Giles grabs on to my shoulder, but I don't understand why.

Willow's not dead. She's fine.

Tommy starts screaming, and I bounce him a little to try to soothe him. It's fine. It's all fine.

A firefighter then grabs my shoulder.

"You can't stay here, come on, you should go with your friends to the hospital." he says to me, ushering me towards the ambulance.

"No." I tell him, pulling his arm away, "I can't. There's still someone in there. I have to wait for her."

"Son," he tells me, looking straight into my eyes, "nobody is coming out of there."

"But she is!" I yell at him, "She's coming!"

"Xander," Giles says as he walks over to me, tears drenching his face, "Willow's dead."

"No!"

Why will nobody believe me? I know Willow. I know she can't be dead. Willow is fine. She needs us.

"Come on Xander, please." Giles starts leading me towards the ambulance, "Help the people that we can still help."

"We can help Willow!" I scream, but my voice is starting to give way. My thoughts are becoming less convincing.

I am still rocking Tommy, who's screams are becoming louder. I have a sudden urge to throw him away from me, but instead I grip him tighter. He looks just like her.

"Xander, please." Giles gives me a look, and I reluctantly allow myself to be dragged into the rig.

One of the EMTs comes over and takes Tommy from my grasp. I try to protest, but instead I get a door slammed in my face.

The engine roars, and we slowly begin to drive away. I watch the house go by in the window.

I get thrown into hysterics.

I am smashing at the glass. Trying desperately to get out, to reach her.

I am vaguely aware of something pointy getting put into my arm, but it barely registers. My vision suddenly begins to get fuzzy. It's getting harder and harder to see, and a black blob appears in the corner of my eye.

Just as the darkness is about to take over however, I think I see a blue pillar of light erupt into the sky. But then of course, I could have just imagined it.

…

 _I wake up in a small room, about the size of my old kitchen. There is nothing in there really. Just a few old bookshelves laden with dusty covers, and a bed, wrapped in blue sheets. There are candles lining the walls, and rose petals on the bed. There is a small door to my right, But no windows._

 _I sit down on the bed, and wait. I don't know exactly what I'm waiting for, but I know something's coming._

 _Hours pass, but I still sit, waiting, and waiting. I don't get bored though. I'm just so excited to see what I'm waiting for._

 _After what seems like a day, the door opens, and in walks Willow. She is wearing a very long red velvet dress, and she has a huge smile on her face._

" _Xander!" she says, beaming at me, "I didn't know if you'd come!"_

" _I'll always come." I reply, grinning at her lovely, perfect face_

" _I decked the place out." she tells me, looking around_

" _I can see that. Really sets the mood."_

 _I stand up, and walk over to her. I wrap my arm around her waist, and pull her close to me. I draw nearer, and our lips are only inches apart, when-_

I wake up with a jolt. There are doctors all around me, and loud sirens are blaring an awful dissonant chorus in my ears.

I wheel my head around, trying to piece together where I am.

My eyes find a sign in the center of the room with the words 'Emergency Room' written in red blockly letters on it. That's a clue.

Then the reality of my situation sets in. I begin to pull myself out of bed. I need to go and see everyone.

A nurse suddenly emerges from the curtain next to me.

"Oh, sir, you need to get back into bed." she orders, leading me back

"I need to know if my friends are okay." I tell her, urgently, my eyes still darting around in every direction.

"I can tell you in a second sir, you just need to get into bed."

I oblige, and crawl back under the rough hospital bed sheets.

"I'll be right back." she tells me, before exiting

They need to be okay. They _need_ to be okay. I can't be alone here.

After what seems like forever, the nurse makes a reappearance.

"Mr. Harris," she says, holding a chart in her hands, "it appears like both of your friends are doing well. Dawn Summers is being taken to the ICU now, and Buffy Summers is in surgery, but she's doing well. They are going to close soon."

I give a nod, and then ask, "My son, where's-"

"Your son is perfectly okay. He's with your other friend now. I believe his name is Giles." she interrupts

"Can I see him?"

"I believe you can in a moment. We are going to transfer you into the normal patient rooms. You can probably be discharged later today. We just need to make sure your mental state is good." she gives me a smile, before adding, "Anything else, Mr. Harris?"

"Um, yes," I reply, shifting in my bed, "there was somebody else in the house. Her name is Willow Rosenberg. Do you know if she's here?"

"I don't believe so." the nurse says, running through the chart, "I'm sorry. But I will come back if there is any news."

She then flashes me a smile, and turns and walks away.

"There's still a chance." I whisper to myself

After about ten more minutes, the nurse walks back in.

"Good news Mr. Harris. It seems like you can be discharged right now. So, you won't have to go to the other room. If you'll just sign this paper."

The nurse then passes me a clipboard with a single sheet of paper on it. I don't read a word of it before scribbling my messy signature on the bottom.

"Great!" she replies, taking it from me, "Now you can follow me out here."

I do what she says, and I follow her out of the curtained room, through the emergency room, and to the waiting room that Willow, Giles and I sat at before when we were waiting for Buffy.

The moment that I get there, I see Giles stand up, his arms wrapped protectively around Tommy.

I mutter a thank you to the nurse, and then walk over to him, and take my son out of his hands. The moment I see his face, all of my insides burst into pieces.

He is the exact replica of Willow. He has her nose, and her cheeks, and her mouth. He even makes the same little noises and expressions while he sleeps. The only thing different is the eye color, but even then their shape is the same as hers.

This is all it takes to break me.

I drop into the chair, and sob into his little onesie. Giles's arm wraps around me, and we sit there for hours.

At one point however, a different nurse from before runs into the room, and walks over to us.

"Um, Mr. Xander Harris, it seems like you are needed in the emergency room. Someone else has been admitted, and we think that you know her." he says, looking confused

A glimmer of hope beams through my insides as I process what he's saying.

"Well, go then." Giles says, giving me a little shove as he takes the baby back from me.

I follow the nurse down the hallway, and back into the room.

My blood is pumping so fast. I'm trying to not get my hopes up, but how could you not?

"Mr. Harris, is this your friend?" he asks me as he pulls open the curtain on one of the beds

As the curtain opens, I find it extremely hard to believe what I'm seeing. Laying on the bed, is Willow.

Her red hair is extremely matted, and some of it singed. Her face is covered with scrapes, and blood is pouring out of a wound in her thigh. The most unsettling thing though, is the long piece of wood jutting out from her abdomen.

"Yes." I mutter, staring at her mutilated form, barely able to think straight, "Her name is Willow Rosenberg."

"Thank you sir." the nurse said, as he begins to lead me away, "We will keep you updated. We just need you to return to the waiting room."

"Can I stay with her?"I ask, as I follow him back down the hallway

"I'm afraid not." he replies, at the doorway, "But we will make sure that she is in the best of hands."

He then gives me a little shove, and I walk back to where Giles is standing, pacing the floor.

He runs over to me when he sees me walk in.

"Is it her? Willow?" he asks me, looking extremely flustered

I give a small nod, and he sinks down into his chair, taking a deep breath.

"She's really hurt." I tell him, my face remaining pale

I feel a tear drop down my cheek again, but I make no attempt to hide it.

"Be happy!" I try to tell myself. You thought Willow was dead. She's not. She's here. She's hurt, but she's here.

"How isn't she dead?" I ask Giles, my voice emotionless

"I have no idea." he responds, "Probably something to do with magic. She's smart, and she's strong though. Whatever it was it involved some very quick thinking."

"Well that's Willow for you." I reply, and then resort to staring at the wall

"If she's made it this far, she can make it to through this." Giles says reassuringly

I don't say anything. I want to believe it, but it's becoming hard. For some reason, it all seems more desperate once I saw her. When didn't know where she was, there was always the chance that she would be perfectly fine. Now that I saw her all beat up, I know she isn't. I hate to see her in pain. Even before I realised I was in love with her, I couldn't stand it when she was hurt.

A weird thing then happens to me. I begin to have a flashback of all the things she's been through and done. I remember the yellow crayon, the sleepovers, the parties, her bat mitzvah. Then I remember meeting Buffy, and fighting our first vampire. Defeating the master, getting her back from the demons, fighting Spike, and Angelous, how terrified I was when she was captured by the mayor, and then when she was with Oz, and when I realised how in love I was with her. I was kind of horrible after that part. We kissed, many times, but I stayed with Cordelia, and shoved it in her face. Eventually we sorted it out, and I left Cordelia and her Oz. Then we fought the mayor, and she left for college. I missed her so much, and we never spent as much time together as we needed. Then there was Adam and the initiative, and then she got pregnant. And now we're here.

I never really got a time tell her how much I care about her. I hope she knows. But I can tell her when she gets healed. She's going to get healed. I have to believe it, because if not, then I've got nothing.

My thoughts are interrupted by a doctor walking over to me. She has dark brown hair tied up in a bun, and horned rim spectacles around her eyes.

"Hello," she says, her voice very peppy, "are you Mr. Giles and Mr. Harris?"

"Yes, that is us." Giles says, standing up

"Ms. Summers is in the ICU, and she's up for visitors if you would like to come." the doctor beams at us

"Which Ms. Summers?" Giles asks

"Oh, yes, sorry," the doctor checks her chart before saying, "Dawn Summers."

I stand up from my seat as well, and we follow the doctor up the stairs, and down a few hallways, until we reach a room labeled, 'ICU Patient: Dawn Summers, Doctor: Isabelle Hopkins.'

"Right in here." the doctor smiles, and opens up the door

Dawn is in the middle of the big hospital bed, with a tube down her throat, and several other tubes running from her arm to different monitors lying around the bed. There are also several burns running down her arms, and a few on her neck.

Giles rushes over to her, and sits down on the chair to her left. I slowly walk over to her, and sit on the other side.

Her eyes are closed, and her breathing appears to be pretty labored.

I grab her hand, and watch the slow rising and falling of her chest.

"What the hell caused this fire?" I ask Giles, rage feuling through my blood

"I'm guessing it wasn't natural." Giles says, still holding Tommy, "It would be too good of a solution for their problems."

I have a sudden urge to leave. Staying here won't help me. I need to run, I need to kill the demons that did this to us. They deserve to die.

"We need to find them!" I say, getting up, "They need to pay for what they did."

"Xander, no!" Giles says, also standing, "This isn't the time. We can't do anything about it without them."

"But they need to die!" I yell out

"Xander, keep your voice down." Giles whispers, "We can't do this now. The people here need our help."

"But we can't do anything to help them!" I say, a bit quieter

"Yes we can." Giles tells me, coming over to me, "Just being there to hold their hands is help enough."

Giles then passes Tommy to me and says, "Here, hold him. It'll calm you down."

Sure enough, I do feel better the moment that he gets into my arms. My heartbeat slows, and my breathing gets easier.

"I'll go and get you a drink." Giles tells me, walking towards the door, "I'm also going to check and see if there's any word on Buffy and Willow."

As Giles leaves, I turn my gaze back to Dawn. She looks so peaceful. It must be nice to have a quick break from reality like that once and awhile.

A moment later, Giles returns, looking flustered.

"Buffy's out of surgery." he says, his hand gripping a water bottle, "And Willow just went in. They say she's not looking too good."

I nod, but I don't really care. I saw her. I know the condition she's in.

"Is there any way to get Buffy moved in here?" I ask Giles, who hands me the drink

"I have no idea. I'll go check."

He exits again, and I look down at the baby. He looks so sweet all curled up. I know he came as a real shock at first, but now it's hard to imagine life without him. He's part of the family.

A loud noise brings me to my senses. I look out of the room and see Buffy's bed being wheeled in.

I immediately get up, and drag the chair out, to create more space.

As the bed gets pulled in, I can see how badly Buffy is beat up. There are red, nasty looking burns running down all of her limbs, and a huge gash on her abdomen. At least she's got the slayer blood though, so she should heal fairly fast. It's still no pretty sight though.

Buffy is mildly stirring, and after a jolt her eyes burst open. She locks eyes with me, and I give my best attempt at a reassuring smile.

Then I see her lips moving, but I can't make out a word.

"What?" I stammer, walking closer

"Dawn." she mutters, her voice raspy

"Oh," I respond, fairly reluctantly, "Well, Dawn's doing okay. She's stable, but she hasn't woken up yet."

A gulp of air flies out of Buffy's mouth, and her eyes droop down.

"Hey," I say, grabbing her hand, "It's gonna be okay."

She nods, but then her eyes grow wide again, and she jerks her head up to look at me.

"Willow," she says, "I remember her pulling me out. Where is she?"

A wave of panic surges through me again as I answer, "Willow is in surgery. She thought that Tommy and I were in there, but we weren't. She was searching, and the roof collapsed."

Tears well up in Buffy's eyes, and her head falls down again.

"Buffy," I ask hesitantly, "What did this?"

She shakes her head, before answering, "I don't know. I didn't see it happen. I just heard a crash, and then Dawn screamed, and then there was another crash. Then fire."

"Hey, it's okay." I tell her, "We'll catch whoever did this."

She nods, and then lies her head down on the pillow.

"I'm kinda tired."

"Okay." I say, walking over to close the blinds, "You catch some Z's."

I'm about to sit down, when Tommy gives an annoyed yell.

I quickly get up, and walk out into the hallway to get a bottle from the diaper bag. That's when I realise, that we don't have a diaper bag anymore. And even worse, I have an angry baby, and no food.

"Um, excuse me," I say, running up to a nurse, "My house just, well, kinda burned down, and I don't have any food for the baby. Do you?"

"Oh, yes, of course. Just give me a minute." he then runs away, and I am left by myself.

I try rocking Tommy, but he just won't stop crying. Why won't he stop crying? Willow would know what to do, but she's not here. Why isn't she here? I can't do this alone. She promised that we would raise this baby together, but she's not here to help me. She's supposed to be here.

I start to walk around, but nothing's working. He's being so loud.

"Shush!" I almost yell at him, desperately

A second later, the nurse returns with a warm bottle of milk.

"Thank you!" I say extremely appreciatively, taking the bottle from his hand, and giving it to the baby

He suckles the moment that the bottle gets into his mouth, and I take a breath. It's okay. It's all going to be okay.

His breathing begins to slow, and tears stop pouring from his eyes. He calms down, and henceforth so do I.

"Xander!" I look up, and see Giles running over to me,"She's out of surgery. She wants to see you!"

Relief floods through every part of my body, and I abruptly stand up and run to Giles. He holds out his arms, and I pass him the baby. Then I take off down the hallway he came from, and stop at a room labeled, 'Room 4109 Patient: Willow Rosenberg Doctor: Timothy Regi'

I burst through the door, and a horrible sight meets my eyes.

Willow is lying on the bed, with burns worse than Buffy's almost everywhere on her body. She also has a few small gashes, and one big bandage over her middle. Like Dawn, she has many different tubes running from her limbs to different monitors lying around the room, although her eyes are open, and she has a huge smile on her face.

"Hey there!" she says, beaming

"Oh my god." I reply, while running over to her, and planting a huge kiss on her lips.

"Are you okay?"

"I mean, I'm not feeling super great, but I'm alright. In fact, super peachy!" she flashes me a smile, and I wonder how she's managing to be so strong.

"Side question, what happened? The doctors wouldn't tell me."

I grin, as I sit down next to her on a chair, and grab her hand.

"Well, I didn't see all of it, but Giles did fill me in on some stuff."

"So fill me in too then!" she grimaces, while flinching a small bit at some pain I can't see

"Well, from what I know," I start, "you and Giles were walking or something, and then you saw the house on fire."

"I do kinda know that part Xander," she tells me, "I was there for it."

"Oh, right, sorry." I stammer, "Well, you were in the house trying to find me and Tommy. But, well," guilt hits me like a knife. If I just told her that I was going with her, everything would be fine. She wouldn't be horribly maimed lying in a hospital bed.

"But you weren't there." she finishes for me, squeezing my hand

I lower my gaze, and tears start to boil in my eyes. I let her down. It's all my fault.

"Hey," she says, putting her hand under my chin, forcing me to look at her.

"You can't blame yourself for this. It's not your fault."

"But," I reply, grabbing her hand, "if I just walked with you to the store originally, then you would never have had to search for me in that house. You would never have gotten-" the thought then hits me, and I jerk my head down to her stomach

"Oh my god, your stomach, didn't you get impaled?"

"Oh, yeah" she smiles at me, "just like Cordy, huh? You know, that's really what you should be blaming yourself for. Is it really a coincidence that your last two girlfriends both got impaled?"

I smile at her, before adding the thing that's really on my mind, "Willow, you must be in so much pain. You don't have to put on a brave face for me if that's what you're doing. You're just being so, chipper, and, well, normal Willow."

The moment I say this, her smile fades away, and pain crosses her face.

"Okay, maybe I'm being a little weird." she tells me, "It's just, I feel so stupid running into that house. I should have known you weren't there. And I don't want to be that hurt little dumb puppy now."

A tear runs down her cheek, and I brush it away.

"Willow," I tell her, looking right into her eyes, "you running into that house was one of the bravest things I have ever seen. You saved Buffy and Dawn, and you still had the brains at the end to shoot up that magic spell, even though you were hurt. So, you totally have the right to be the dumb little puppy. Even though, you're not the dumb puppy."

Willow beams at me, and I plant another kiss on her forehead.

"You should probably get some sleep." I tell her, and she nods

"Where's Tommy? Is he alright?" she asks, suddenly panicked

"Yeah," I tell her, stroking her hair, "he's with Giles."

"Aww, good. Rupert is getting some good quality time with little Rupert." she beams, giving a yawn

"Yeah we really should have thought more about that." I laugh, squeezing her hand

She smiles back, before closing her eyes, and nodding off into sleep. A few minutes after, I find myself going as well, my head resting on her arm.


	19. Chapter 19

**CHAPTER 19**

 ***Willow Point of View***

"How you feeling?" I open my eyes, and see Xander walking up next to me holding a cup of coffee

"Alright." I tell him, with a smile

The truth is, I'm lying through my teeth. I feel like total crap. My skin is on fire, and the pain in my middle is really intense. I hope it's not too obvious. I just don't want Xander to worry. He's done enough worrying for one lifetime.

"And, how are you really feeling?" he asks, plopping down in the little armchair next to my bed

"Bad." I grimace. Eh, what can you do, he's my boyfriend/best friend. He signed on for this.

"What in particular?" he starts to grow panicked, and I lean over and kiss him to shut him up.

"Well nothing now." I stretch out my arms, and give a small gasp as the wound on my stomach flames up

"Willow." Xander reaches out his arm, and gently brushes the hair back from my forehead, "You sure your okay?"

"It just hurts a little," I tell him, but when he gives me a look, I correct myself, "A lot. It hurts a lot. But, I'll be fine."

"Well, maybe we can get the nurse to give you some more meds." he tells me, looking around

"No, she told me earlier I was all capped out." I answer, truthfully

"Yeah, but if you're in pain-" he starts to get up, but I grab his hand and pull him back down

"I'm okay."

He smiles, and plants a kiss on my forehead.

"Hey," I tell him, the thought just hitting me, "can I see Tommy?"

"Uh, sure." he grins, "I'll go grab him."

"Love you." I say as he leaves

"Love you too." he responds, walking out of the door

Ever since the, you know, last near death experience, I feel the need to tell him that as much as possible.

The moment he's out of my sight, I let myself relax. My muscles un tense, and I put my hand on my stomach to try to alleviate the pain, although, of course, it does nothing.

After a moment of this, I decide I can't take it any longer. I grab the little remote next to me, and jab my finger into the little call button.

A minute later, a nurse shows up at my door.

"What's wrong Ms. Rosenberg?" she asks me, walking over to my bedside

"The pain, is just pretty bad. Is there any way I could get more medication?" I ask her, flinching as another wave of pain hits me

"Uh," she mutters, checking the chart on the small table next to the TV, "Well, it seems like your last dosage was eight hours ago, so yes, a little bit more pain killers will be fine."

"Thank you." I tell her, extremely appreciatively, as she grabs a small IV bag, and plugs it into the port on my arm.

"Sure thing." she flashes a smile at me, and walks away, soon to be replaced by Xander, holding the laughing Tommy in his arms

A smile immediately blossoms over my face, and I hold out my arms. Xander plops Tommy down in them, and then goes back to sitting down next to me.

"Hi there!" I beam at him, as he grabs on to a piece of my hair, "How are you little cub?"

In response, a glop of drool drips down his chin, and a few bubbles froth from his closed lips.

"That well, huh?"

"He was a complete nightmare before we got here." Xander tells me, stroking Tommy's cheek, "I guess he just really missed his Mama."

I laugh, and run my finger over his tiny nose. He looks at it distastefully for a second, and then screws up his face and gives a sneeze.

This kid is so cute. I still find it hard to believe sometimes that Xander and I created this. I mean, he's just so perfect, and both of us are so far from that. Well, I am at least.

A little bit of spit up then runs from his mouth, and Xander hands me a small cloth from his pocket.

"Thanks." I tell him, wiping his chin

Another surge of pain runs through me, and I flinch again, and accidentally give Tommy a little squeeze, which he is not a fan of.

"Ow." I mutter under my breath, grabbing my arm

"Are you sure you're okay Wil?" Xander asks me, brushing my hair back from my eyes

"Yeah, I just got some more pain meds." I tell him, keeping a happy tone to reassure Tommy, "It just surges up every so often."

He nods, and his hand goes back to playing with Tommy's hair, instead of mine.

A moment later, there is a knock at the door. I look around, and see Doctor Regi walking in.

"Oh, hello Ms. Rosenberg. Is this a bad time?" he asks, walking over to my bed, and looking at the IV drip

"No, it's fine." I tell him, passing Tommy back to Xander

"Great. I'm just going to clean up these burns a little bit. You've been through this before, right?" he aks, examining the burns on my leg

"Yes." I say, reluctantly. The cleaning was extremely painful, and I would rather not do it again if I can help it. But, I can't.

"Xander," I tell him, looking over "you should take Tommy out for this."

"Why? What's wrong?" confusion passes over his face, and the Doctor takes the liberty of answering him for me

"The process is fairly painful, and can be intense to witness. You can be in here if you wish, but I would recommend you take your son out."

Xander looks apprehensively at me, but I squeeze his hand, and he gets up.

"I'll be right back." he smiles, and walks away

I then turn to the doctor, who gives me a reassuring smile.

"I promise I'll make this as fast as possible."

I nod, and then clench my fists, and tense up my muscles.

As the Q-tip enters the burn, a surge of pain instantly hits me. It feels as if it is being burned all over again.

I let out a little yelp, but try not to make any more noise. I don't want to look weak.

"I know, I'm sorry." the doctor tells me, as he keeps on scraping.

A tear runs down my cheek. The pain is too overwhelming.

A moment later, I feel a squeeze on my hand, and I look over to see Xander next to me, looking scared.

I smile at him, but it is quickly wiped off by another round of pain.

This goes on for another ten minutes, and then he moves on to my other leg, and then my stomach, then arm, then neck.

Thankfully, my skin starts to go numb after a certain point, but it leaves a weird, tingling sensation in its wake.

"And, we are done." the doctor says, getting up.

"Thank god." I mutter, tears still running down my cheek

"You did great."

I nod at him, and he walks out of the room.

"Willow, that looked like it sucked. You okay?" Xander asks, kissing my forehead

"Yeah," I grin at him, "Can you just do this one thing for me?"

He nods, and I tell him, "Can you go shut the blinds?"

"Willow," he says apprehensively, "As much as I want to, you're badly burnt, and I don't want to hurt you. You're in a hospital bed."

"It's for a spell Xander." I tell him, annoyed

"Oh, spell, right!" Xander replies, guiltily, walking over and pulling the blinds closed

"Hold my hands."

He does so, but he looks odd.

"What are you gonna do?" he asks apprehensively

"Would you mind if I borrowed a little bit of your energy?" I ask him, "It'll make you a little bit sleepy."

"Go ahead."

I grin, and then shut my eyes.

I calm my emotions, and try to channel the energy from his hands into my various burns.

I can feel it working, but I give up after a few minutes when I feel his energy source depleating.

"You okay?" I ask, opening my eyes

"Yeah," he says, yawning sleepily, "That was weird."

"It takes a little getting used to."

"Did it help?"

"Very much. Thanks."

He nods, and I can see how much it really drained him.

"Should we see if they can get you a cot in here?" I ask him, nodding towards the front desk

"Sure." he says, getting up, "I'll go ask."

"Oh!" I add, grabbing his hand, "Maybe also a bed for Tommy."

"Sounds good."

He kisses my forehead, and walks out of the room.

I love that man so much.

About five minutes later, a nurse comes in, wheeling a small cot with a pillow and a blanket on it. He then goes and checks my IV, and leaves.

Xander follows right after, wheeling a little baby bed into the room, with a sleeping Tommy in it.

"Hey little dude." I smile at him, as Xander plops him down between us, before getting into his cot.

"How is everyone else doing?" I ask, stroking Tommy's cheek

"Dawn woke up today, and they are both healing well. Buffy miraculously well, you know, slayer."

"Well that's good." I yawn

"Yeah." he yawns back, squeezing my hand

"I'm gonna sleep." I mutter, looking over at him, "I love you."

"Love you too, Wil. More than you'll ever know." he smiles

"And I love you too Tommy."

It's kind of weird to think that I have a family now. Like, that I started my own. I always imagined it would be with Xander, or, I hoped, but I never thought it would be this soon. I thought we would move in together after high school, then get a dog. Then get married, and then have babies, eventually. Now though, looking at my life, I could not imagine it slightly differently. It just feels like we are meant to be.

As I look into Xander's sleeping face, I could never be any happier. That's why I'm so happy that I can now look at that face every night.

 **I know this chapter was a little bit slower, but I wanted to get some fluff in there, as we haven't had a lot. Please continue to read and review. Love you guys!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Oh, so I totally lied earlier. Now that I've gotten to writing deeper into the story, I've decided that I want to include the trio. The first will come later. Sorry!**

 **CHAPTER 20**

 ***Willow Point Of View***

So after weeks and weeks of being restricted to a hospital bed, I am finally being allowed to move to a wheelchair, and have brief periods away from the hospital.

I am extremely excited, but not as much as Xander is.

He's been really good about it, but I can tell that he has been driving himself crazy living alone with a small baby. The constant threat of monsters attacking hasn't been much help either.

It's about 6 am when a loud knock echoes around my room.

"Willow!" Xander runs in, a huge grin plastered onto his face, "You ready for the first day out of hospital?"

"Darn tootin!" I reply, already propping myself up

"Woah, hold your horses there." he responds, holding my legs down, "You need a wheelchair."

An extremely excited grin then passes over his mouth.

"What?" I ask his, suspiciously

"I've got a surprise for you." he smiles

"Well what is it?" I look around eagerly for a puppy or something like that, but instead, he just gives me a short kiss

"You have to wait and see!"

"You jerk!" I say, jokingly hitting his arm

"Imma go get your ride!" he yells as he skips out of the room

A moment later, he returns with a little blue wheelchair. The moment I see it, I get down from the bed, and begin to walk to it.

"Let me help you m'lady." Xander tells me, grabbing my hand

"Xander, it's just a few burns and stab wounds. It's nothing we haven't seen before." I laugh, however accepting his help

"I mean, it's true."

Xander then makes sure I'm sitting and safe, and he pulls out of the room.

"So, what're we doing?" I ask him, very excited to finally be moving, "Also do I have to wear this hospital outfit outside?"

"Yeah, sorry. We can try a coat though." he laughs, "Also, that's the surprise, which, may I remind you, you're not getting out of me."

"Can't I try though?" I grin, "Glory's taught me a thing or two about that."

I can feel Xander's muscles tense, and the chair stops moving.

"Bad joke." I reply quickly, "I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine. It just, you know." he tells me, looking down

"Yeah, I do. I'm sorry."

When he doesn't look up, I tuck my hand around his chin, and force him to look at me.

"Come on, we don't have that much time."

"Oh yeah, right." he nods, and looks up again. Then he proceeds to push the chair forward until we reach the doorway.

"We going out?" I ask

"Yup." he tells me, the grin returning

"Well," I reply, dejectedly, "I imagine the hospital grounds aren't too bad. Some fresh air, maybe an ice cream vendor."

"I wouldn't crush your hopes just yet."

Just then, Xander veers left from the garden, towards the parking lot.

"Wait, but," I look at him, confused, "the doctors said that I could stay in the hospital."

"Well," he tells at me, with an elated look on his face, "sometimes doctors just need a little persuasion."

A moment of total love and admiration hits me, as I look at him, with a probably really stupid grin on my lips.

"I can leave?" I ask him, bewildered

"Two hours." he grins, holding up a paper signed by my doctor in his hands

I want to get up and kiss him, but I realise I can't.

"Xander, can you come here for a minute?" I ask him, sweetly

"Sure," he says confused, "what's up?"

The moment he gets within arm reach of me, I pull him into a huge hug, and plant a huge kiss on his lips.

"So, that's a thank you?" he asks me, grinning

"You deduced that, huh?" I reply, "Now let's get to the car. Don't want to waste precious time after all."

"Right-i-o!" he exclaims, wheeling me up to the car door

With a little help, I'm able to get into the seat, and buckle myself into it comfortably.

Xander then walks to the trunk, and places the folded up wheelchair into it. Then he walks back over to the driver's seat, and closes the door.

"Okay," he asks me, turning around to look at me, "you ready?"

"Go ahead." I tell him, gripping the arm rests just in case

He nods, and then turns the key in the ignition.

The car roars to life, and Xander gives me a reassuring look before we move forward.

"It's been so long, I've kinda forgot what the outside feels like." I tell him, honestly

"Well, now you remember." Xander smiles

"Yeah."

My voice draws away, and I just resort to staring out the window. My head starts to feel a bit light, and a faint bit of nausea hits me. I imagine that's what happens when you get into a car after not driving for a few weeks.

"How you doing?" Xander asks me after about five minutes

"Alright." I mutter, trying to focus on my breathing

"We'll be there soon."

I nod, and continue to stare.

After a few more minutes, the car pulls to a lurching stop outside the magic box.

"The magic box?" I ask him, giddy with excitement, despite the nausea

"I figured a little normality would do you good." he grins

"A little normality would do me great!" I tell him, with that stupid smile

He smiles back (with a very adorable, not stupid smile), and he runs to the back of the car to get the wheelchair.

Before I get into it, he hands me his coat, and I wrap it around myself gratefully.

"Have I ever told you just how much I love you?" I ask him, sitting down

"Yes." he replies, wrapping his hands around the handlebars, "Many times. But please, feel free to tell me again."

He kisses me, and then pushes me forward into the shop.

The moment that the bell tinkles, a brown haired figure rushes up to me.

"Oh my god!" Dawn screams, "Willow, I've missed you so much! Are you okay?"

Dawn immediately envelops me in a huge hug, and I hug her back.

"Yes, Dawn." I laugh, "I'm okay."

"Willow! It's so good to see you!" Buffy joins in, walking over and pushing Dawn out of the way to hug me herself

"I've missed all you guys so much." I mutter into Buffy's neck

"So have we." Giles speaks up, walking forward with Tommy in his arms

"Tommy!" I yell out, holding out my hands

Giles grins, walks forward, and hands me the gurgling baby.

He's definitely getting bigger. He is looking even more like me now, and I can't deny I'm pretty happy about that.

"So, how's all the demon slaying going?" I ask Giles, bouncing Tommy on my knee

"Well," he replies, cleaning his glasses, "we actually need to talk about that."

"Oh, great." I say, with an exasperated sigh, "I don't even get one day of happy."

"Well, that's the way it goes." Buffy says, walking with Giles and Dawn over to the table, "Sorry Wil."

"Oh, I'm well used to it by now." I tell them, Xander pushing me over to where they have all gathered.

"So, there seems to be a slight problem." Giles tells me, looking pityingly down at the baby in my arms

"What is it this time?" Xander asks, tickling Tommy's stomach

"Actually, it's not what. It's who." Buffy answers, pointing to three pictures on the table

I recognize two of them immediately, but one of them doesn't ring a bell.

"Is that Jonathan?" Xander asks, pointing to the picture on the left

"Yeah," I reply, "and Warren, right? That creepy love robot dude?"

"Yes." Dawn tells me, "Plus some blonde kid named Andrew."

"So?" Xander asks, looking at Giles confused, "A few geeks? What can they really do? Try to hit us with lightsabers?"

"They are using technology in purely evil ways." he replies, giving Xander a glare, "They have already tried to kill Buffy. Who knows what they could do."

"So how do we kill them?" I ask, booping Tommy on his nose

"That's what we're trying to figure out." Buffy says, pointing to the books

"Why can't we just give them a little stabby stabby?" Xander says, jokingly

"Because, we have no idea where they live." Buffy points out

"And because believe it or not, they are dangerous. They're smarter than a lot of these big villains we've faced combined." Giles adds

"So, you want me to hack the web?" I ask, trying to help with anything to make up for all the fights I've missed

"That would be great Willow." Giles smiles

I pass Tommy to Xander, and then realise I don't have my laptop.

However, a moment later as if reading my mind, Dawn places it down in front of me with a grin.

"Thanks Dawnnie." I tell her, opening it up, and starting to type in some code

After about ten minutes of hacking, I think I finally come up with the correct answer.

"Here!" I yell out, triumphantly, "146 Blossom Rd, it looks like it's Warren's mother's house."

"Great job Wil." Buffy says, walking over to me

"So," she turns around to face Giles, "shall I go kick their asses?"

"Wait just one minute." he says, walking over to her, "We don't know anything about these three. We have no idea what they're capable of. They could be plotting something right now, or even have something in motion. We don't know."

"We are talking about the same 'trio' right?" Xander pipes up, looking incregiously at Giles

"Yes, Xander." Giles turns to him, "We, we need to plan. Running into things like this is going to get us killed."

Pain suddenly flares up in my side, and I flinch a little.

That's weird. It hasn't hurt for a while. I guess it's the result of not having an IV of pain relievers constantly being stuck in your arm.

Luckily, nobody notices but Tommy, but I give him a little smile and he gurgles back.

"Okay then!" Dawn interrupts, "Let's do some research."

"How?" Xander asks her, still looking annoyed, "They aren't going to be in the books."

"We have to go out and see what's up." Buffy answers, pulling on a sweater

"I'll come too!" Dawn runs to her

I can see that Xander wants to go, but he also doesn't want to leave me alone.

"You can go." I tell him, grabbing his arm, "I'll be fine here."

"But, Willow."

"No buts!" I protest, and take Tommy back in my arms, "Go!"

He gives me a kiss on the forehead, and then runs after Giles who just left the shop.

"I'll be back in half an hour!" he yells, right before the door slams shut

"Guess that just leaves you and me Tommy." I say to the little boy sitting in my arms

In response, he waves his fist, and blows his lips together.

I laugh, and tickle his stomach, to which he responds by a little giggle.

God, I love this kid.

Giles, Buffy, and Dawn have all been so amazing with him lately. They always stepped up when Xander wanted to stay with me in the hospital. I think Giles has actually grown quite fond of him. I feel so lucky to have them.

I then set my laptop up again, to try to investigate a bit more about this 'Trio'.

There is absolutely nothing about them on the internet. They really keep a low profile.

I try the police reports, health records, and school records for Sunnydale, and even the neighboring cities, but nothing pops up.

Suddenly, an idea pops into my mind.

The chip.

If I can identify the chip they put on Buffy, I might be able to see what kind of programming styles they are using for there gadgets. I could also see how advanced they were. The only question now is where they put it.

I wheel my chair to the little stand next to the table, and sure enough, the chip lays inside a little ornate box that sits proudly on it.

"Augendae." I whisper to the chip, and it magnifies in my hand, so I'm able to make out the details

I wheel myself back over to the computer (which is hard to do one handed) and search for the type of patterns I see inside of the chip.

A few things pop up, and I'm able to locate a little information about it, but not much.

All I see is that it's called "The Chip of Temporal Disturbance," and it's used to distort a person's perspective of time (which we already knew).

It actually appears to be a fairly complex device to create, so that means that the Trio are either really good at technology, or they have a lot of money. Based on the fact that they're living in Warren's mom's basement however, I'm going to go with the former. That's not good.

The sound of a bell ringing sends me out of my thought process.

I jerk my head up, fearing the worst, to see Spike walking through the door.

"Spike!" I yell, shutting my laptop quickly, and startling Tommy

"Red, you doin' alright?" he asks (very uncharacteristically), and sits down in the chair next to me

"Yeah, I'm on hospital leave."

He nods, and then adds, "Where's everyone else?"

"Demon stalking." I reply simply

He nods again, and stares at Tommy, who's trying to eat his foot.

"He's getting big." Spike comments, walking over to the fridge in the other room to get a beer.

"Yeah, he is." I say, uncertainly

"No offense Spike," I begin trying to think about how best to word this, "but since when have you become all chummy?"

"Since Buffy's house burnt down and she needed a shoulder to cry on." he says, walking over to me

"Still barking up that tree?" I ask in disgust, "This is getting creepy you know."

"Well, I know what a girl wants." he replies, taking a swig from the bottle

"Clearly your skills need some improvement, because Buffy does not want you in any sense of the word!" I almost yell at him, wheeling my chair a little bit away

"Maybe not now," he says calmly, still not looking at me, "but she'll learn sooner or later."

"Is that a threat?" I ask him, cautiously

"In a way." he turns to me with his next swig, and then runs his eyes up and down my small frame

"You know red, maybe I am barking up the wrong tree." he says, turning to face me

"How about me and you, right now?"

"Spike, what the hell?" I ask him, moving farther away

"Don't think scooting your little car away is going to do anything. I was joking, jeez, relax." he tells me, turning away again

"Spike, I think it's time for you to leave now." I tell him, trying to hide Tommy from his view.

"But this place is so comfortable. Plus, it's daylight, I'd rather not go back outside." he tells me as he drains the bottle

"Then move away from me." I tell him calmly, running defense spells through my head.

"What's going on?" the bell tinkles, and I look over to see Xander walking in, with a look on his face that says, 'I'm ready to kill Spike'

"Just a little friendly banter." Spike tells him, chucking the empty bottle into the bin.

I give Xander a reassuring nod, but the face doesn't go away. That's when I know something's wrong.

"Xander, what happened?" I ask him, wheeling myself closer to the door

"We found a body." he tells me quickly, walking over to me, "But I'll tell you in the car. You need to get back to the hospital. Your time is almost up."

"That doesn't matter now! You found a body?" I ask, as he starts to wheel me away

"Yeah, and, yes, it does. If you ever want to come out of your bed again."

He makes a good point.

"Who's body?" I ask as I get into the car, Xander buckling Tommy in behind me, "Do we know? Was it the trio?"

"Yeah." he says sadly, looking into my eyes, "Do you remember Katrina? Warren's girlfriend before the robot stuff?"

I nod my head, and he gets into the seat next to me.

"They killed her. And by the looks of it, that's not the worst part." he tells me, starting the engine

"So we've got a new enemy?" I ask, to hear if this changes his opinion

"Oh yeah." he tells me, driving away, "We've got someone else who is in dire need of some serious ass kicking. So, enemy."


	21. Chapter 21

**CHAPTER 21**

 ***Willow Point of View***

I heard the doctor say the words. I'm sure of it. But, I don't understand. It's been four months. I mean, the spells have helped, but, what?

"Wh-what?" I stammer at the doctor

"You can go home Ms. Rosenberg." she repeats, smiling at me

"I, can go home?" I ask her, a joyful sensation flooding my body

"Yes." she tells me, grinning, "You just have to sign these few papers, but you have shown miraculous improvement. Of course, you'll need to check in with us from time to time, but you have a clean bill of health."

I can't believe what I'm hearing. I can go home! Or, at least, what home is now. Giles's house. At least we're all together.

"How soon can I get out?" I ask her, grinning, "And, can I use the phone? I need to tell Xander."

"Of course. I'll get the paperwork as soon as possible." she puts her hand on mine for a second, and a jolt of electricity runs up my arm. She's pretty hot. Then she smiles, and walks out of the room.

The moment she's out of range, I get up, and run towards the phone hanging from the wall.

I dial his number, and I can hardly wait to hear his voice. He's going to be so hyped!

"Hello?" he answers, confused

"Xander!" I reply, excitedly

"Willow? Is something wrong? It's 6am."

Oh shoot. I was so excited that I totally blanked on the time.

"No, nothing's wrong!" I grin, "Xander, I can leave!"

"Leave the hospital?" he asks me, clearly not getting it

"Yes. For good!" I squeal

There's a pause, before he responds, his voice very high and peppy.

"Wait, seriously? You can come home!" he screams

"Yes! I can come home!"

He gives a laugh, and I can hear him grin over the phone.

"I'll be there as soon as I can!"

A faint clicking sound hits my ears, followed by a buzzing. I place the phone back down on the receiver, and go back to pack my very few things.

I place two shirts, a pair of pants, a sweater, my laptop, and a spare diaper of Tommy's into the small sack hanging from the edge of my bedpost.

Just as I finish, there's a knock at the door.

"Come in!" I say very loudly

A nurse comes in, and hands me the paperwork.

"Page me when it's done." she says, and then walks out

I look down at the papers, and see thousands of words that basically all come out to, "I won't sue the hospital if I die."

I sigh, and sign my name on the spaces allotted.

Then, I press the call button, and she promptly walks in almost a second after, and takes the paperwork from me.

"I'll come and get you when it's all cleared." she states briskly, and then walks out again.

This nurse doesn't seem much for emotion.

I sit down on the bed, and the familiar crinkling of the hospital gown echoes in my ears. Then the thought hits me. I can change! I can finally get out of these horrible clothes!

I quickly unzip the bag, and pull out the red jeans, and blue and white striped shirt I have lying inside. The smell of home overwhelms me as I pull the shirt over my head, and a swell of emotions runs over me.

As much as I'm totally excited to get out of this place, there's also a sense of unease. I mean, things aren't going to be the same as they were before. I know that. But, I still want things to be kind of usual. They can be usual, right?

I zip up the pants, and then plop back down on the bed. I've spent so much time just sitting here, watching the clock move, or the clouds move. The TV barely ever worked, so I couldn't even have Spongebob.

After ten minutes, the nurse still hasn't shown up, so I figure I'll do some healing. I don't want to have these big burns too prominent.

I carefully prop myself up, and fold my legs underneath me. Then I close my eyes, and try to focus on the sounds, and smells of the room. When I can paint a clear picture in my mind, I begin slowly shifting all of the energy coming from the senses into my body. I can feel my skin burn a little, but I focus on the picture.

I am suddenly pulled out by a crash coming from the hallway.

I bolt to the door, and wrench it open to see Xander lying on the floor, looking dazed. What the hell happened?

I run over to him, and place my hand on his chest.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" I ask, as he sits up

"Yeah, Wil." he tells me, pulling me up with him, "I just tripped over a thing of medical equipment."

"You tripped over medical equipment?" I ask, snarkily

"Hey, I'm not perfect." he replies, pulling me into a hug as we walk back to my room

The moment we reach the threshold, he pulls me into a deep kiss. I reply _very_ enthusiastically.

He's been petrified to touch me when I was in the bed, even though I assured him every minute I was fine. I guess all of his feelings are finally being let out, after all the waiting.

After a minute, he breaks away.

"So, can we go?" he asks, tilting his head towards the doorway

"Not quite yet." I answer, sitting down on the bed, and pulling him down next to me, "The nurse is going to come back with the papers."

Xander nods, and wraps one of his arms around me. I nestle my head into the crook of his neck, and tuck my legs under his own. We fit so snugly together it's like it was meant to be (as cheesy as that sounds).

"So, we can finally chill out normally as a family now." I tell him, beaming with delight at the thought

"Thank god." he laughs, "I can tell Tommy misses you. He's fussy all the time now. Plus, he's teething."

"Oh great." I tell him, playing with his hair, "I come back just in time for no sleep."

"Pretty much." he whispers, looking out the window

After a minute of this, I break the mood with a more pressing question.

"So, what's the news on the Trio?" I ask, turning around to face Xander

"They've been quiet for a while." he tells me, speaking very softly, "So they're obviously preparing for something big. There's another problem though."

"What is it?" I ask, nervously

"Well, there's been some magical disturbances lately. We don't really know what's causing them, but we've heard from people something about a 'shift in the energy.' No clue what that means." he grimaces

"A shift in energy?" I repeat, questioningly, "I haven't felt anything."

"Well you have been crammed up in a hospital for four months. I imagine your senses could get a little messed up." he replies, looking down at his watch

A disturbance in energy? I have absolutely no idea what could have caused that. It's very rare for a change, as it's usually very nice and steady. This could mean very bad news.

"What's taking them so long?" Xander asks, looking towards the door

"I'm so sorry for the inconvenience Mr. Rosenberg." the nurse answers, walking in with an amused smile on her face

"It's Harris." Xander corrects her, his face turning pink

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Harris." she nods her head towards him slightly mockingly, "Well Ms. Rosenberg, your papers are all in order. You are free to leave."

She hands me a copy of the forms, which I take, very generously.

"Thank you so much, for everything." I smile at her, before I take Xander's hand, sling my bag over my shoulder, and walk out of the room

It feels so great to finally be leaving this place. I can finally go back to my normal boring life. Or, a life as normal and boring as it always is.

I can sense that Xander feels it too, and I grin at him.

He grins back, and squeezes my hand before we walk out of the big hospital doors, into the parking lot.

It is a beautiful day outside. The air is warm, with a slight breeze, and there are a few white puffy clouds in the sky, but not many. It's like nature is welcoming me home.

I take in a breath of air, and feel the freshness fill my lungs. It fills me with strength, and I suddenly feel like I could tackle any demon the world has to throw at me. I probably could too.

I am extremely reluctant to get into the car, but I do it anyway, as you know, I also want to get as far away from that freaky building as possible.

Before I think too hard into it, I jump into the car and slam the door behind me.

"Drive!" I say forcefully, looking towards Xander

He obliges, and drives away way over the speed limit.

"Well you don't have to kill us." I tell him, holding on to the handles, "You can slow down."

"Sorry." he murmurs, returning to an acceptable speed

"So," I ask, "any ideas on where all of this energy is going to?"

"None at all." he tells me, keeping his eyes on the road

"I'll head out and check tonight." I state, my mind made up

"But you just came home." he protests, "You can't go out again."

"How about we talk with Buffy?"

I figure it's the only way to get him to even consider it.

We sit in silence for the rest of the ride, until we eventually pull up in front of Giles's house.

A wave of nerves hits me as I step out, although I don't know why. It's just Giles, and Buffy, and Dawn, and possibly Spike.

"You ready?" Xander asks me, holding my bag over his shoulder

"Ready as I'll ever be." I smile, grabbing his hand

I look at him, and I think he can sense the fear in my eyes, because he gives my hand a squeeze, and whispers, "It's going to be okay."

I nod, and turn my head forward towards the door.

Then I take a deep breath, and walk forward. There's a cold aura around the door, and I imagine that a spell was placed on it. Probably for protection.

I hold up my fist, and wrap three times on the wood.

In a matter of seconds, the door opens and the face of our old librarian appears.

"Willow." he smiles, pulling me into a one armed hug, "It's so nice to see you again."

"Same here Giles." I grin back, "Thank you so much for this."

"It's my pleasure."

I release myself from his hug, and slowly walk deeper into the house, towards the guest room that Xander is sleeping in.

"Where are Buffy and Dawn?" I ask, opening up the door, to reveal a medium sized bed, several bookshelves, and a little baby bed where Tommy is fast asleep

"Well, Dawn's at school. And, I honestly have no idea where Buffy is." Giles tells me, following me in

"Well that's pretty usual."

I sit down on the bed, and run my hands down my legs, trying to think about what to do next.

Giles sits down next to me, and Xander is nowhere is sight.

He opens up his mouth to say something, but I quickly cut him off as I'd rather him not launch into that 'are you sure you're okay' spiel.

"So Giles, Xander told me that there was some sort of disturbance in the energy. Do you have any idea about what's up?"

"Oh, yes." he stammers, cleaning his glasses, "Well, as Xander probably filled you in, there have been several reports of shifting supernatural energies. They seem to all be congregating in a few spots around town, in some sort of rotating pattern. Our guess is that there was some sort of occurrence that caused this. We are still trying to find the source."

I rack my brain, trying to come up with any information I would have. That's when it hits me.

"Amy!" I say, standing up, "She, she was in the fire. She died. Could that have caused the change in energy? I mean, she was a very powerful witch."

"Yes, that could very well be it" Giles replies, excitement growing in his voice

"I'll go check out the sources, just to be sure." I tell him, walking towards the door

"Where are the hotspots?"

"Over, in these locations." Giles tells me, running towards a map laid out on the coffee

table.

He points to a few spots, and I make a mental note.

"Okay. I'll be back as soon as possible." I say, grabbing a knife from the chest and giving Xander a kiss on the forehead

"What's happening?" he asks, extremely confused

"Going to do some magics."

"Okay, be careful. It's almost night." Xander yells after me as I run out the front door

Sure enough, a orange sunset is beginning to form, and the air is getting the slightest bit colder.

I fold my arms tightly together, and proceed to walk down the street, towards the first site.

It should only take about three minutes, as long as I did the mental calculations correctly.

As I pass the fifth block, the air begins to become thicker. There's a darkness gripping the atmosphere, and it's quite cold. I'm really not fan.

I draw closer to the location, and I begin to sense the energy change.

There's a slight buzz in the air, and it feels like there's a vacuum that's sucking all of the energy up into it. It could be some sort of portal.

After a few more steps, I notice something strange. It feels like there's some sort of presence in front of me. I crane my neck around, but there's nobody there.

Cautiously, I stick my hand forward, and it slowly begins to melt away. I

I jerk my arm back in fright, and it returns to normal.

It must be a rotating magical portal. The only question now, is where it leads.

I gather my courage, take a breath, and walk forward.

A darkness grips my insides. I am blind. I cannot see or feel anything. All sense of reality is gone. My organs start to twist up, and my breathing is cut off. I am trapped inside a tunnel. I can't move. A high pitched whistling sound runs through my ears, and my head is under so much pressure I think it's going to explode. I try to run forward, to escape this torture, but I can't move.

Suddenly, the world around me materializes and the sensation fades away.

I look around, and see a small room with a big wooden table in the center, surrounded by old looking armchairs. There's a person sitting in the one closest to me, but all the other seats are empty. The only other thing in the room is a little door to the far end.

Before I have time to think about what to do next, the door opens with a bang, and a very strange looking man steps out. He has pale skin, and a few slash marks next to his eyes. His hair is an amber color, and extremely oily. Chills run up my spine at the sight.

"You!" he points to me, and a snarl crosses his face, "Come in."

I cautiously step forward into the room, and the door slams shut behind me. It appears to be a very simple place, with nothing but a few grand armchairs.

The man steps up from behind me, and runs his hand over my hair. I jerk back quickly, and look at him with disgust.

"I sense incredible power with this one." he murmurs under his breath, his gaze running down my body

"What do you want?" I ask shakilly, taking a few paces back

"I should be asking you this question." he replies, closing the gap between us, "You were the one who came to me."

"I was looking for a disturbance in energy." I answer him, truthfully

"You sure you weren't looking for anything else?" his breath tickles my face as he talks, and I resist the urge to vomit

"Who are you?" I ask, trying to sound as brave as possible

"My name is Rack." he answers cooly, stroking my face, "I'm a warlock. People generally come to me for dark magic."

"I don't want any dark magic." I retort quickly, jumping back from his touch

"Ah, but you already have it." he tells me, drawing closer again, "I can _feel_ it. If you just let me help you, you could feel it too."

"I don't want to feel it!" I say aggressively, pushing him from me

"I think you do."

Rack then moves his hands together so quickly, I barely have time to react.

"Alliges duplicia!" he yells

I am immediately thrown back, and I can feel my body go limp as I am bound to the wall behind me.

"I just need to take a little tour."

He begins to walk towards me, and I thrash around wildly, trying to get away, but I am held firmly in place.

He then places his hand on my chest, and a wave of energy immediately hits me.

I can feel him inside me, searching through my memories, and my magical abilities. He's thriving from my magic. Absorbing it.

After a minute, he draws away, gasping for breath.

"Just as I suspected." he says again, "Very powerful."

Rack draws closer to me again, and places his hand in the same spot.

"Now, for your turn."

Power surges through me. It feels like I have been activated. Like I am alive for the first time. Energy surges through my bloodstream, and envelopes every part of my body. I am cradled in magic, and it begins to consume me.

I forget about everything else. My friends, my family, they have no meaning anymore. It is just me. Only me. I have no emotion. I am just power. I don't need anything else. I am the universe.

I am suddenly jerked out of the trance. Rack walks away from me, and sits back down in his chair.

I am thrust from the wall, and fall to the floor.

I want more of it. I need more of it.

Before I can voice my thoughts, his voice chimes out, "In time, strawberry. For now, you must leave."

I don't want to, but I can sense that he is true.

I force my feet to the door, and walk back out through the portal.

It hurts slightly less this time, but not by a lot.

As the cold of night consumes me again, the reality of what I just did hits me.

I just played with dark magic.

The scariest part is how much I enjoyed it. When I was full of its power, it felt like it was supposed to be like that. Now it feels like something's missing.

"You should never have done that." I whisper to myself

He forced me to though. I didn't have a choice. How could he do that? He made me forget about Buffy, and Xander, and even Tommy. He gave me something he had no right to give me. He took away what he had no right to take away.

As I walk forward into the night, I don't feel like Willow. Something's wrong with me. I _am_ still Willow, right? I mean, just being exposed to that much magic once doesn't mean anything. As long as I don't act on it again…

Another part of me begins to question that though. Now it feels like I am Willow for the first time now. It feels like everything else was fake, like it was all an act. It was a shield to try to cover up who I really was.

But no, that can't be true. I just have to forget. That's my only option. I can't dwell on it.

As I make up my mind, I suddenly realise that I'm standing in front of Giles's house. That's weird. I guess I wasn't really thinking about where I was going.

I walk forward, and knock on the door.

A very flustered Xander opens it, and his face relaxes when he sees me on the other side.

"Good!" he stammers, pulling me into a hug, "You're home. I was getting worried."

I don't answer, and instead just try to put on a happy face. I walk over the threshold, and see Buffy and Dawn sitting on the couch, playing with Tommy.

Dawn immediately comes over to hug me, followed closely by Buffy, who hands me the baby.

"It's so nice to have you back for good Wil." Buffy tells me, grinning

"It's nice to be home." I answer, trying to not let on the insane confusion running through my head

"So Willow, did you find anything out?" Giles asks me, walking forward.

God, what do I say?

"Uh, yes." I stammer, "It seems to be a shifting magical portal. The guy who runs it, he's a dark magic dealer. He goes by rack. I am guessing he knew Amy"

"Oh my God, Wil are you okay?" Xander asks me, grabbing my arm, and searching for any injuries

"Yes." I lie, "He didn't touch me."

"Well thank heavens for that." Giles adds in, walking back over to the books

Tommy gives a little cry in my arms, and he begins to look around frantically. He must be hungry.

"Do you want to go and feed him?" Xander asks me, tilting his head towards the bedroom

No. I don't want to feed him. I don't want him to be anywhere near me right now, let alone be fed by me. He can't be exposed to this.

"I'm kinda feeling drained." I tell Xander, handing Tommy to him, "I think I just need to go to bed. Sorry. Do we have bottles left?"

"Yeah." he answers, looking a little confused and dejected, "Yeah. Go get some sleep. I'll be in soon."

"K. Goodnight everyone." I murmur briefly, and then take off to the room.

I feel like crying. I am so confused, and just want to be done. I just want a little bit of time with no confusion, no pain. Just normal life. Maybe sleep will help with that.

I lie down on the bed, and get under the covers.

I try to let myself get pulled into sleep, but I find that I can't. I'm too alert.

"Please." I whisper into the night, desperate for help, of any kind, "Please."

In response, nothing happens. The room remains silent, and dark.

I resort to staring up at the ceiling, trying to clear my mind. Trying to meditate. Trying to do anything.

Instead, I feel the unease and confusion rise up inside me, until it's all I am.

 **Hi guys! I hope you liked that chapter! So, I'm having some serious writer's block, so I don't think I'm going to be posting for a little while. I just want to make sure that I can be proud of the content I post. I don't want to post utter garbage just for the sake of posting. I hope you understand. Sorry!**


	22. Chapter 22

**I apologize again for the long break. I hope this chapter is worth it! Also, please keep those reviews coming! It really helps!**

 **CHAPTER 22**

 ***Willow Point Of View***

After seven hours of tossing and turning is restless sleep, I decide it's hopeless to try to get any rest.

I sigh, and quietly crawl out of bed as not to disturb Xander.

The air is surprisingly cold for Spring time in California, so I quickly pull on the grey sweater handing on a hook next to the bed.

Before I leave the room, I glance towards Tommy, and see him fast asleep in his little pale blue onesie, his fists all curled up around the little sheets.

This manages to elicit a little smile from me, and I walk out, carefully closing the door.

The confusion from last night hasn't gone away, and it's actually seemed to intensify since I got back home.

It just feels like I've been shown my true self. Like, everything I've built, the person I've become was just a mask. Like I've been lying to my friends, and to myself all these years. Like I've tricked everyone, and made a fool of us all.

But then again, I could also think of it as a virus. I could say that this 'awakening' or whatever you want to call it was just a disease sort of thing to plague my head. It was a little thought that's growing, and if left unchecked could destroy my reality. It could turn me bad. It could ruin all of my relationships because of my perception of myself as different.

Somehow, the possibility of the latter is comforting, because that would mean that my life was normal, and that this was just a blip. Rather than the blip being normal, and my life being a lie. Yeah, I'm going to try to believe in the second.

Just as I make up my mind, a little wail hits my ears. Tommy must have decided that relaxation time is over.

I quickly walk back into the room, and pick up the crying baby, who's wildly thrashing in his bed, like he's trying to kick away an invisible monster. Wait, what if he is trying to kick away an invisible monster? No! Don't think about that.

"Shhh." I whisper, gently rocking Tommy in my arms

"It's okay Tommy. You're okay."

He quiets down a bit at the sound of my voice, and his limbs begin to fall limp, his eyes trailed on my own.

As to not wake up Xander, I remove Tommy, and henceforth myself, from the room, and walk down to the main space of the house.

I take a seat on the green plush couches, and let myself fall into them. They're actually surprisingly comfortable, considering Giles's furniture choices.

I look down, to see that Tommy has stopped crying, although tears still stain his cheeks.

"Did you have a nightmare little lion?" I ask him, wiping his face with my sleeve, "It's okay. You don't have to be aren't real."

The moment I say the words, I know that I just lied to my son. I mean, we are on the hellmouth. Buffy, Xander, Giles, and I have all lived our nightmares thousands of times, once literally. He doesn't need to know that though. We'll let him stay an innocent child for as long as he can, (although that probably won't be very long, considering who his parents are).

Like he knows what I'm thinking, Tommy gives a little lopsided frown, which quickly turns into a smile when I laugh in response.

Then he starts kicking his legs, and craning his neck to look around the room.

Wanting to let him explore, I pick him up, and try to move where his head is pointing. It's the next best thing to crawling, right?

A few minutes in, he looks over to a shelf that Giles has perched on the wall.

Yielding to his command, I walk over to it, and plant my feet on the ground.

I can see immediately that there's trouble.

Tommy has his eyes trained on a purple glass sphere that's lying on the shelf, perched upon a small black stand.

He is clearly mesmerized by it, as his eyes are now the size of diamonds.

Before I can move back, he reaches out his hand, and knocks the shere off the shelf. It hits the ground with a *crash*, penetrating the silence. When it hits the floor, it shatters, and a few hundred tiny pieces of glass form a little collage.

Tommy jerks his head around to look at me, startled by the noise. I give a reassuring "shush," and kneel down on the floor, praying that nobody woke up.

I lay my hand down on the pile, ignoring the little pricks of pain as my hand gets cut, and say softly but clearly, "Retro simul adiungere."

The little pieces fly back together, and form the ball once more, which I quickly place back on the shelf.

Relief hits me, but is quickly sent away by a horrible feeling.

The magic that I felt yesterday, the power, the awakening, floods back into my veins. My skin prickles excitedly, and I can feel my senses waking up. My muscles start contracting, and the world fades away.

I am vaguely aware of a crying sound, but it doesn't register.

Once again, the feeling of utmost power hits me. I am the world. I can control everyone and anything. The universe bends at my will. I am the only thing that matters.

I am filled with energy. Every inch of my body sings in joy. My pinkie finger could lift a mountain. The air pulls me up. I am floating. The energy of the world is flowing into me. The universe chose me. I am special. I am gifted. I am-

I am suddenly jerked back into reality.

My body crashes to the floor, and I feel extremely weak. All my muscles are aching, and an extreme headache starts to form, gnawing at my brain.

Tommy is wailing at the top of his lungs, and Dawn is holding him, looking extremely scared herself.

I look around and see Buffy, Xander, and Giles surrounding me, all of their faces etched with fear and confusion.

"Are you okay?" Buffy asks me, pulling one of my arms

"Willow, what happened?" Giles stammers, pulling my other arm

"Wil, please answer. You're scaring me. Are you okay?" Xander places his arms around my face, and forces me to look at him

"Yes." I mutter, standing up, and shrugging them away, "I'm fine. Is Tommy-"

"Tommy's alright." Giles tells me, looking angry, "Willow, what happened?"

"I-I-" I stumble over my thoughts as I try to come up with a good answer. I have absolutely no idea what just occurred, and my brain still seems to be fairly dazed.

I end up truthfully muttering, "I don't know," which is responded by a look of pure anger from Giles

"Willow, you need to understand, that lying to me right now, will put yourself, your son, and all of us in danger." he yells, walking forward until he's right in front of me

"I told you," I say back, the confusion levels in my voice rising, "I don't know."

"Well you better get an idea bloody soon!" he screams at me, spit showering my face

"Giles, what the hell are you doing?" Xander steps in, pushing Giles away from me, "She said she doesn't know anything."

"Because, I have a feeling that she does know something." he replies calmly to Xander, not wavering his gaze from my face

"I had a feeling about what was causing this energy disruption." he continues, unblinking. "I also had a feeling that letting Willow go to investigate was unwise, but I decided that I should trust her. Then when she came back, and confirmed my suspicions, I had a feeling that something more happened that she was letting on. I continued to trust her though, because I didn't think that she could be so foolish, especially after our previous conversation. And this morning, I heard her get up. I heard her take Tommy. I heard her talk to him. I thought that everything had to be fine if she was acting so normal. But then I heard her do a spell."

He walks a few paces closer to me before delivering his next statement.

"Willow, you knew what was going to happen, but you did it anyway. You did it _holding your son._ You could have killed him, yet you did it anyway. How could you be so foolish as to mess around with forces such as these?"

Tears start to burn at my eyes. I have never seen Giles this mad, except maybe with Ethan. He misunderstands though. I have to make him understand.

"Giles, what the hell are you saying?" Xander asks, looking almost as mad as Giles

"I didn't know." I whisper quietly, trying to make eye contact with Giles but failing, guilt clawing at my insides

"How could you have not known?" he says as he turns to face me again, "When you mess around with things like this, you have to know. You have to understand what you're getting into."

"It wasn't my choice." I speak up, with a bit more confidence, "Rack, he forced me to. I tried to get away, but, he wouldn't let me."

"Rack hurt you?" Xander asks me, looking panicked

"No, Xander. I'll explain later." I answer him, not moving my gaze from Giles

"And you didn't think to tell us until now?" Giles interrupts

"I didn't know how to. I was scared." I speak quietly, and I can feel a tear run down my cheek, "I was trying to deal with, everything."

"And you didn't think that you could deal, with us?" he asks me, looking very grim

"You don't understand! I was scared of hurting you. Rack made me see things, and, feel things. I'm just confused. I wanted to figure things out myself instead of bringing you into it. I didn't need to reassure you that I was okay, while focusing on what I needed." more tears start to fall, and I try to wipe them away, but they just get replaced immediately

"Why is it confusing?" Giles asks me looking confused himself, "You keep on saying that, but it doesn't make sense. Just experiencing some dark magic once doesn't change you."

"Dark magic?" Buffy interrupts, looking alarmed

Even though I can hear everyone talking, right now, they all seem to fade away. Giles is the only one I care about.

"It wasn't just an experience." I tell him, honestly, "It felt like an awakening. I can't really explain it. It just, it changed my perception of things."

"You said he forced you to use dark magic?" Buffy asks, walking closer to me, "Oh I am so gonna kill this guy."

"No, there will be no killing." Giles mutters, looking at her, "This man, Rack, isn't causing any trouble. We can't harm him unprovoked. That would be very unethical."

"Unprovoked? I think we've been provoked enough. He held Willow against her will. He forced her to use dark forces." Xander says, standing up and walking towards Giles

"Dawn," I say loudly, wanting to get them out of here, "Take Tommy, and go play with him in your room. He shouldn't see this."

She nods, slightly quivering, and takes off to her room, cradling a screaming Tommy in her arms.

"What he did was wrong." Giles tells Xander, calmly, "But Willow did show up in his domain. She went to him."

"But he still took advantage of her! What about the next person who accidentally wanders in there? What happens to them?" Xander screams, two inches away from Giles's nose

"Wait, Giles," Buffy interrupts looking confused, "There's one thing that I don't get. Rack has been here for a while, right? So why did all the disturbances start now. What's different?"

"Amy." I answer, "She was a powerful witch, so I imagine she was seeing Rack. He probably depended on her quite a lot so now that she's dead, he needs more victims to get the necessary amount of energy."

"That would fit." Buffy murmurs, grabbing my hand and giving me a supporting smile

"And so we have to kill him." Xander's voice is quieter now, but it is full of a very intense rage

"No!" Giles responds, not bothering to keep the noise down, "Rack is stronger than anyone we have ever faced. He has the power of darkness on his side."

"Yeah, and so do we." Xander tells him, pointing to me

"No." I reply immediately, and very forcefully, "I can't get close to that again. When it was in me, it was like I needed all of it. I still feel like that. It's taking all of my will power right now not to run back to him. If I used it for even a second, I could turn."

"Willow, we need to stop him! He needs to pay!" Xander walks over to me, and grabs my wrist, "Come on!"

He begins to try to pull me out of the door, but I keep my feet firmly planted on the ground.

"No! Xander, we need to talk about this. We can't just run."

"But, Willow, please." his voice is filled with such desperation that I instinctively reach out and pull him into a short kiss

"It's going to be fine."

He smiles back at me, and I kiss him once more before I continue.

"Rack will pay in due time. We just need to think a little bit before we go all stabby stabby."

I take Xander's hand again, and we walk back down and plop on the couch.

"Well, I'm going to go and do some research." Giles mutters, and walks away towards the direction of the bookstacks.

"Yeah, I'll go and make sure Dawn's getting ready for school." Buffy says

She begins forward, but then seems to second guess herself. Before I think about what she's doing, she runs up to me and envelopes me in a hug.

"You sure you okay?" she asks me, her breath on my neck

"Yeah, I'm fine." I reassure her, accepting her love gratefully

"Just, don't do any dark magic." she grins, backing up

"I'll try."

Buffy turns around, and sprints back up the stairs, yelling down, "I'll bring Tommy back with me!"

The moment she's out of sight, I let myself slump on the couch, and exhale a huge breath of air.

That was really rough. Everyone must hate me now. Well, if not everyone, at least Giles.

I can feel a weight on my shoulder, and I crane my neck to see Xander's arm wrapped around me. I move in closer to him, and tuck my head into the crook of his neck, desperate for his touch.

As painful as that was, it was kind of a relief to get all of my thoughts in the open. Now I don't feel quite so horrible.

"Xander," I begin, wanting to explain everything to him, "I promise you, I didn't mean for anything to happen. I was just investigating it, and he forced me to use the magic. He put his hand on my chest, and then…"

I trail off, when I remember the point where he touched me.

I took down at my chest underneath my purple undershirt, and sure enough, a small black mark meets my eyes.

Xander follows my gaze, and pulls down the very top of my shirt to reveal the mark.

"Magic?" he asks me, not moving his eyes

I nod, and just sit there, running my fingers over the hideous black scar. Xander can't seem to move his gaze either.

"I don't blame you." he whispers, finally looking up at me

"It scared me though." I tell him, trying not to cry, "I crave it, still. And if I give in, I don't think I'll be able to stop."

He moves his head closer to mine, so we are barely an inch apart.

"Then you just have to be strong. But I wouldn't worry too much about it. You're Willow."

I lean in at his words, and close the gap between our lips.

After about ten seconds, the sound of a cry pierces the air and we jump back from each other.

I jerk my head back, to see Buffy standing behind the couch, holding Tommy, with a mischievous smile on her face.

"You still want this?" she asks, holding Tommy out to me

I grin a bit guiltily at her, and take my baby into my arms, looking at his perfect little face.

"Thanks Buf." Xander tells her, walking over to me and booping Tommy on the nose

"No problem." she grins, and then walks over to the bookshelves, where Giles's head can be seen poking out

"I'm off to school!" Dawn yells as she sprints down the stairs and out the door

"By Dawnnie!" Xander and I both call after her, though she doesn't seem to hear

I guess things are back to normal. Well, mostly back to normal. After all, this is the hellmouth.

As Dawn opens the door, a beam of light cascades onto the floor. It looks so appealing. But, then again, Tommy doesn't have a stroller. Or maybe they got a new one for him after the old one burned, I don't know. The whole being in a hospital thing for a while really leaves you a bit under a rock.

"Well, I'm going to go back to bed for a little while if that's okay." Xander tells me, planting a quick kiss on my cheek

"Yeah, sure." I stammer, still lost in my thoughts

He gives a small smile, and then turns and walks back to our bedroom.

I then find myself completely alone. Well, besides Tommy, but babies aren't really the best for human interaction.

I turn my head around to look out the window again. It really does look pretty out.

It then dawns on me just how much I miss Buffy. I've been in the hospital for so long, that we haven't really had time to talk. We used to be best friends, and then she kinda faded away. That's when I make up my mind.

I walk over to the bookshelves a few rooms over, and see Buffy sitting on a chair still in her pajamas staring at a book. Her eyes look kinda fuzzy, and her hair is all frizzy.

"Hey Buffy." I say, walking over to her

Her eyes come up to meet mine, and I can see the completely drained look she has on her face.

"What's up Wil?" she responds, patting the seat next to her

I do what she's suggesting, and take the chair, before gathering up my courage and saying, "You know, I was just thinking. We used to hang out a lot. And, we don't anymore, and I miss you. So, you want to go on a walk? Maybe grab some mochas? I mean, I would have to bring Tommy, but..."

I trail off, realising how stupid I sound. I can feel my face burn red, but Buffy just smiles.

"I miss you too Willow." she says, grabbing my hand, "And sure, mochas sound great. I could definitely use some caffeine."

Relief floods through me. It must not have sounded too cheesy if she agreed to it. No, that's a total lie. This whole conversation is equaling out to cheese factor 3000.

"And, I love spending time with Tommy. I just need to get some regular clothes on." she

says, pointing to her pajama shirt

"Oh yeah, I should probably do that too." I add, noticing that I'm still wearing my

sleepy purple tank top.

She gets up out of her seat, and I soon follow. Just as we're about to leave, I remember about the stroller.

"Oh, Buffy, do you know if we got another stroller? After the old one you know, got burnt to a crisp?"

"Yeah, I think Xander got one." she tells me, gesturing towards the closet near the door,

"I can check though."

"No it's fine. I'll do it."

Buffy grins, and then proceeds out the door to her room on the second floor that she shares with Dawn.

I follow her, except turn right at the end of the hallway into my room, and plop Tommy down inside his little bassinet.

At first, he's not too keen about being put down, but calms down when I give him a stuffed duck to play with. Now he's giggling, and biting down on the poor duck's beak.

I walk over to the closet, and rummage through various clothing items until I find a pair of jeans and a simple pink flowery blouse.

I have to say, I love this whole being able to wear normal clothes thing again. Life at the hospital sucked, especially when you were stuck in a paper nightgown all day and night. I really missed the feel of cotton.

Before I leave the room, I pull on a white jean jacket, and pick up Tommy. He protests when I try to take the duck away from him, so I give up, and let him hold it.

Then I give the sleeping Xander a quick kiss, and open the door.

Buffy's already waiting in the hallway, with a blue tank top and skirt on, and her hair falling loosely on her shoulders. She has a black stroller on the floor in front of her, that she appears to be having trouble with.

"Here, I got it." I tell her, rushing over to help

She takes Tommy from my hands, and I bend down to pop the stroller into place. These things are all unreasonable hard to assemble. You think they would know how chaotic a parent's life is. The last thing they need is another problem.

After about a minute, with a little help from Buffy, the stroller is successfully unfolded, and a gleeful Tommy is sitting inside of it, still biting the duck.

"Does Giles know we're leaving?" I ask Buffy, grabbing the handles

"Yeah I told him."

We then proceed out of the door, and into the fresh Spring air.

As I saw from the window, it is a gorgeous day. There is a nice breeze, and barely a cloud in the sky. Nothing like a little fresh air to heal inner turmoil.

"So, how's your life?" I ask Buffy, as we start walking left on the sidewalk

"The usual." she answers, "You know, demons, slaying, crappy love life. Everyday stuff."

"How about college?" I ask, trying maybe too hard to start a conversation, "I know I haven't been for a while, but how's it holding up?"

"Well, I haven't really been going much lately." she tells me reluctantly, "Everything's just been kinda chaotic."

"I thought you said life was normal." I say, confused

"Well, it is, kinda."

She stops talking, but I give her a look, and she continues.

"I don't know. It's just, Dawn hasn't been the most stable nowadays, and Giles is acting kind of strange, well you saw this morning, and Xander was super stressed all the time with you gone. We can't find Anya. I just couldn't really think about studying and homework with all of that."

A wave of guilt knots itself around my stomach. I can't help but blame myself for lots of this stuff. It's my fault that Xander was alone so long with Tommy, and my fault that Anya left. Probably some of my fault for Dawn too, because me being gone made everything out of the ordinary.

Buffy seems to sense this, because she quickly adds, "Willow, don't blame yourself for this. It's not your fault. You were in that hospital because you saved my life, and Dawn's life. It was incredibly brave. Things would be much worse now if you hadn't done that."

I nod, but I don't really believe it. Buffy could have gotten out without me. She's Buffy, the slayer.

"So Wil," she continues, changing the topic,"I have to say you're handling motherhood pretty well."

"Yeah," I grin, "I guess so."

"I just really never expected to see you and Xander as parents."

"I didn't either." I tell her, truthfully, "I mean, you know how terrified I was when I found out I was pregnant. We were just so young, still are. But, now that he's here, I couldn't imagine life differently. He's part of the family now."

"Yeah, part of the family." Buffy echoes, smiling at the baby in the stroller, whose eyes are very wide looking around at everything."

"How old is he now?" she asks, looking up at me

"Nine months now." I answer, going over numbers in my head

"Wow. He's getting so big. Of course I didn't know him for the first three of his life." she adds, as a second thought

"Yeah, it's kinda weird to think about. You were dead just half a year ago." I wonder if I should talk about it, but, well she brought it up first

"Yup." she fades away, and looks out into space for a moment

Jeez Willow, you really want to play the dead card now?

"I'm sorry." I stammer, trying to get out conversation back to normal, "I shouldn't have brought that up."

Her head pops back around to look at me, and she says quickly, "Oh, no it's fine. I just got lost in thoughts for a second."

As she speaks, we turn down a small alley that we always take as a shortcut to get to the mocha shop.

A few steps in, I notice something feels strange. I think Buffy senses it too, because she stops dead in her tracks.

"What do you think it is?" I ask her, looking around for any sign of disturbance. It's the middle of the day, so there's probably not any vamps. Then again, that attack at the magic box also happened during the day, and I got a feeling kind of like this one right before that happened.

"No idea." she replies, walking forward slowly, pulling a knife out of her pocket, "You should stay wary though."

I really don't like this.

I place one of my hands out to Tommy in front of me, and he grabs onto my pinkie with a vice grip. Only he could give me comfort in a time like this.

The sound of a pebble being kicked suddenly reverberates in the alleyway. I think it's coming from behind me. I attempt to jerk my head around quickly to see what caused it, but before I can move, I am suddenly aware of a hand being wrapped around my neck.

 **CLIFFHANGER! So I know that this was a longer chapter then usual, I just wanted to make up for the break. I also don't know if I'll be publishing as frequently. I promise I'll try to get as many out as possible though. Thanks to all of you who have stuck with me!**


	23. Chapter 23

**RECAP: The sound of a pebble being kicked suddenly reverberates in the alleyway. I think it's coming from behind me. I attempt to jerk my head around quickly to see what caused it, but before I can move, I am suddenly aware of a hand being wrapped around my neck.**

 **CHAPTER 23**

 ***Willow Point Of View***

Panic floods through me. I have no idea who is holding me, but all I know is I can't breath. My lungs are bursting, and I'm desperately pulling at their hands, trying to get out of their grasp.

Buffy didn't seem to hear anything that just went on, because she just keeps walking forward.

"Yeah Wil, I don't think there's anything-"

She is quickly cut off by a loud wail from Tommy. I think he sees the panic on my face, and he must be freaking out. His face is all screwed up, and he dropped the duck.

Buffy turns her head around quickly, and her expression changes into one of fury when she sees what's happening.

"Let her go." Buffy speaks calmly and clearly to my captor, with a rage in her voice that is much stronger then all I heard this morning combined

"I don't think that will be necessary slayer." a male voice replies, grabbing my neck tighter

"Unless you would rather me take the child." he gestures to Tommy with his free hand, and more fear rushes through me

They can do whatever they want with me as long as they don't touch Tommy.

The whole lack of oxygen issue is becoming unbearable. I think my insides are going to explode. I can feel myself becoming lightheaded, and the world around me starts to become a little bit fuzzy.

"Coming after my friends now Warren? Why not me?"

Oh, so that's who this is. Warren. The leader of the trio.

"Oh, I already did missy." he replies, his voice cool and impressively evil, "But I guess red here had to go and save you instead."

Buffy's face immediately changes. The cool and collected expression leaves, and is replaced with pure hatred.

"You started the fire?" she asks, tightening her grip on the knife

"Guilty as charged." Warren gives my neck a little jerk while saying this, and I almost fully lose consciousness. Everything's spinning at 400 mph.

"You started the fire," she repeats, "that almost killed myself, my best friend, and my little sister. The fire that ruined everything we had."

"I thought I already made that clear." he says, grabbing my neck even tighter

"Then maybe I didn't make myself clear enough." Buffy says, edging forward. Come on Buffy, could you please cut the small talk this one time? "When I told you before that you shouldn't mess with me, I don't think you understood me. What I meant was, you really don't want to mess with me unless you want your life to be a living hell."

She then jerks her arm around, and the knife in her hand goes straight into Warren's forearm, and he gives a yell, and throws me to the pavement.

Air immediately surges back through my lungs, and I take deep gasping breaths. The world slowly comes back into focus, and I can hear Tommy screaming louder than I've ever heard him.

I grab onto the brick building next to me, and use it to hoist myself up. My legs feel like they're going to give way, but I force myself to Tommy. I need to make sure he's okay.

My hands find their way to the handles of the stroller, and I push him to the end of the alleyway, to behind a bin. Buffy rushes over to me, and throws me into a hug.

"Oh my god Willow, are you alright?" she asks, holding me at arm's length and running her eyes down my body to check for marks

"Yeah." I gasp, "Where's Warren?"

"Gone." she mutters, looking over to where Tommy is sitting, still screaming, "God I'm gonna kill him."

She then walks over to the carriage, takes Tommy out, and holds him to her chest, bouncing him slightly.

He quiets down a little, and his limbs stop wildly flailing.

My breathing has finally become a little bit more regulated, and I'm able to stop hanging onto the wall for balance.

I pry myself from the wall, and begin to walk back down the alley.

"We need to get back there. Tell them what we found." I say, trying to sound confident. What I really mean by that is, so I can lie down and catch my breath, and maybe cry, we'll see.

Buffy seems to get the gist though, and she runs over and helps my steer the stroller with one hand, while still holding Tommy with the other.

We walk the rest of the way home in complete silence. It's taking everything I have not to collapse right now. The walking has made the breathing harder, and the world has started bouncing in and out of focus again. I would like nothing more then to do magic, but I know that's not an option. Instead I have to resort to the good old fashioned gritting your teeth and getting on with it.

After the longest ten minutes of my life, we reach the door to Giles's house.

Tommy has thankfully stopped crying, and instead lays sound asleep, cradled Buffy's arms.

Buffy wraps three times, and after about a minute, Giles enters, his face immersed in a book.

He doesn't seem to notice that anything is wrong at first, but he glances up momentarily to let us in, and his face switches to dark.

"What happened?" he holds out his arm, and I cling to it as I move over to the couch, trying to catch my breath/not faint.

"Warren." Buffy answers simply, as I sit down, putting my hands on my knees and closing my eyes

"They choked her." she whispers, thinking that I can't hear "Almost knocked her out."

An aching sensation has started in my throat, which makes it almost unbearable to breath. I still feel like I'm going to pass out, and possibly barf.

After a moment of silence, I can feel the couch slightly move next to me, and I open my eyes for a moment to see Giles sit down, and brush my hair away from my face to reveal my probably very badly bruised neck.

He moves his hand to one portion of it, and slightly presses down on my skin.

I flinch immediately, as a round of pain hits my neck.

"Sorry." he murmurs, taking his hand away

"They could have fractured something. You should see the doctor." Giles tells me, standing up and walking over to the phone, "I'll call."

"No!" I say forcefully, surprising myself, "I just got out. I can't go back there."

"But Willow, if they damaged-"

"I'll use magic." I stammer, not caring about how much it hurts to talk

"You know you can't do that." Buffy tells me, walking closer, "At least not yet."

She's right. I know it. I want to take the easy way out, but if I do, it wouldn't be good. I just have to be like any other human, suck it up, and take lots of advil.

"I know." I murmur, standing up, "I'm going to go lay down for a while."

"Are you sure you don't want me to call a doctor?" Giles asks, helping to guide me into my room

"I'm sure. Thanks though." I whisper, as to not wake up Xander who I presume he is still sleeping

I give him a quick smile (as I didn't forget about the fight earlier), and walk into the dark room and shut the door behind me.

It's pitch black, even though it is the middle of the day. There aren't any windows though, so I guess that helps.

My eyes adjust, and I can make out the blobby form of a bed in the center of the room. I carefully walk over to my side, and throw my jacket on the floor. Then I lower myself onto the comfy mattress, and pull the covers up.

The pain in my throat is unbearable. God, why am I always in pain nowadays? It feels like my neck is splitting open, and that the world is spinning way too fast. I reach an arm up, and slowly rub at the sorest spots on my throat, but after a quick twinge of pain, I decide that is does more bad then good.

I can feel my eyes burning, and a tear rolls down my cheek. Then another, then three more, then ten more, and then the contents of the Amazon river is coming out of my eyes.

I hate being so weak. If I could just use my magic, I could fix this. All of it. But because I had a taste of the dark side, I have to resort to crying all alone in a dark bedroom about a couple bruises I definitely could have prevented if I was at full blown Wicca.

"Willow?" Xanders confused voice rings out next to me. Shoot.

"What's wrong?"

I quickly wipe away my tears, and try to put on a normal face.

"Nothing." I lie, cracking a horrible attempt at a smile

"What happened? Did Giles do something?" Xander sits up alert as he talks, and turns around to face me

"No. He didn't do anything. There was just a little trouble when Buffy and I were out. Nothing serious though." I attempt to reassure him, pulling up the blankets to hide my neck.

"What happened?" he asks, panicked

I answer simply, "The trio decided to come and say hello"

He reaches over me, and pulls the chain on the small lamp that sits on the bedside table. Instant blinding light stretches over the room, and I flinch. The headache gets even worse, and the nausea comes back with intense urgency.

Xander takes the hint at my reaction, and pulls it again to return the room to the much more pleasant darkness.

"They hurt you."

It isn't a question, it's a statement. From the vague outline of his face I can make out, I think his eyebrows are raised, and creases are forming around his worried eyes.

"Warren choken me." I tell him, trying to sound as calm as I can, "I almost blacked out. I'm fine though. Just a little iffy."

"I swear I'm going to kill that dude." he replies after a pause, taking my hand, and lying back down next to me.

I wonder whether I should say the next bit, but I decide that it's really not gonna make his desire to kill them any less. Why not though?

"There's something else they said."

"What?"

"The fire was them." I state clearly and quickly, "It was their fault."

The moment I say it, I see a look cross over Xander's face. His eyes narrow, and his brows furrow over, looking daggers off into space. He gives me a look, and then gets up abruptly out of bed, and runs out the door.

"Xander!" I run after him, despite the throbbing pain in my head/neck region

"Xander!" I lunge towards him and grab his arm, but he whips around and my hold breaks. I stumble a little, but I'm able to regain my balance.

"What?" he screams at me, and I can see anger etched in every edge of his face

"We can't hurt them. They're people."

"Who cares? They almost killed all of us, and you twice."

"But they're still people."

I slowly get up, trying to ignore the rejections coming from my throat.

"That shouldn't matter!" Xander gently puts his hands on my shoulders, and pushes me back down on the bed, "Even though they might technically be people, they act like monsters. What makes them any better than the rest of them?"

He's got me there.

"I don't, well," I stammer, trying to come up with a good answer, "I don't know. But, we don't kill people. It's just, we don't."

He sighs, and sits down on the bed next to me, holding my hand. He traces small circles on the back of it with his finger, and it instantly calms me down.

"And plus," I continue, my breathing becoming slower, "even if you did find them, you couldn't take them on your own. This is an all hands on deck situation."

"I guess so." Xander mutters, dropping my hand, and lying back down on the bed, massaging his temples, "I just want to kick his ass so bad though."

"I get that." I tell him with a small smile, lying back down in my spot next to him, "Cause I do to."

I give out a long sigh, and Xander wraps his arm around my shoulders, pulling me in closer.

"I love you you know." he whispers into my ear

"Not nearly as much as I love you." I reply with a grin

Then slowly, reassured by his sturdy presence, and the dark comforting room, I drift into the relaxing clutches of sleep.

 **Hello everyone! So I know I haven't updated in forever, and I do feel really bad. I don't know if I'm gonna keep writing this story or not, so I think I'm just gonna write one more concluding chapter so I don't leave y'all hanging. If I do any after that, I don't know, but you'll have to wait and see….love all of you!**


	24. Chapter 24

**RECAP: "I love you you know." he whispers into my ear. "Not nearly as much as I love you." I reply with a grin. Then slowly, reassured by his sturdy presence, and the dark comforting room, I drift into the relaxing clutches of sleep.**

 **CHAPTER 24**

 ***Willow Point Of View***

I wake up to the happy sound of baby laughter. Tommy's little giggles can be heard echoing from the living room, followed by the loud booming laugh of my boyfriend.

A giant smile spreads across my face as I take in the scene. Sometimes it just hits me how amazing this makeshift family we have is.

I turn around slowly to look at the clock, and see that it is 3:23. My throat feels better already, and I know that I probably made the right call by not going to the doctor. It saved us a lot of worry.

I let out a little grunt, and swing my legs down from the bed. They feel like jelly on the cold tile.

My feet turn to the direction of the door, and I slowly turn the knob and head out.

The sight that reaches my eyes immediately makes my heart soar.

On the floor is a cross-legged Xander, holding Tommy's hands in his own. Tommy is standing up, and bouncing slightly on his wobbling knees, trying to propel himself to get the chocolate chip cookie in Buffy's outstretched arms. All three of them are laughing hysterically.

"Am I missing all the fun?" I ask playfully, walking forward and sitting down next to Buffy.

"Only all of it." she responds, holding out a cookie to me from the tin

I take it gladly, and hold it out to Tommy, giving him a big smile.

"Come on Tommy!" I grin, trying to make the cookie look as appealing as possible, "Come get the cookie bud! I know you can do it little lion!"

"Come on!" Buffy joins in, waving the sweet in his face

Carefully, Tommy takes a step forward.

"Yes!" I cheer, "You can do it! Just a little bit more!"

Slowly he moves his foot forward again. He balances on it for a second, and then plops back on his butt letting out a little cry.

"Ah well." Buffy mutters, handing Tommy the cookie, which instantly shuts him up, "Better luck next time kiddo."

Tommy responds with a small gurgle, and Buffy scoops him up laughing. Her long blonde hair falls over his face and covers his eyes, and his smile at that is enough to light up the face of even the most pessimistic person.

I reach over and give Tommy a small kiss on his forehead before scooching across the floor to Xander, who is sitting looking a bit anxious.

"Hey." he smiles at me, looping an arm around my waist

"Hey." I reply back coyly, nestling myself into his warm body

"How are you feeling?" Xander looks up at me, his eyes scanning the bruises on my neck

"Better. Still a little weird though, but I'll be fine."

He gives a little nod, and then gives a strange glance to Buffy that I barely catch.

"Hey Wil," he whispers to me quietly as Buffy loses herself playing with my son once again, "want to go for a little walk outside? I'm sure a little fresh air could do you good."

Fresh air actually sounds amazing, but then I remember what happened the last time someone asked me that.

"You promise there will be no more spontaneous monster/demon/psychopath nerd attacks?" I grin at him playfully

"Well, we are on the hell mouth," he smiles back, getting up and offering me his hand, "so I legally can't promise anything. But I'll try."

"That's good enough for me."

I give a quick smile, before turning my attention down to Buffy on the floor, cradling a very tired looking Tommy.

"Buffy, I hate to ask, but would you be alright-"

Before I can finish my request, she cuts me off, "Willow. I will always be here to look after Tommy. You don't even have to ask."

My heart flourishes at her words, because after all that just happened I don't think she can possibly know how much that means to me.

I walk over and give her a huge hug, trying to convey as much as I can. Based on the way that she gives me a little squeeze before letting go, I think she understands. Family sticks together.

Speaking of family, I remember one thing I should probably do before I go.

"I'll be ready in a sec Xander. I just need to take care of something." I tell him quickly, before turning and walking into the library.

The shelves are all dusty and covered in books as usual, but something seems off for some reason. There are books fallen over everywhere, and clustered together in huge piles. It is definitely weird for a librarian.

I edge my way around one shelf, readying myself in case of danger, but instead another sight hits my eyes.

Giles is hunched over at the small wooden table nestled in the corner of the room. He is surrounded in books and notes, and his clothes are all ruffled and dirty. His glasses are askew, and it looks as though he has not slept in weeks.

"Giles," I mutter quietly, walking forward

At the sound of my voice, his head whips around, before noticing who it is.

"Willow." he only acknowledges my presence for a minute, before turning back to the stacks

I eye him carefully, before slowly walking around to the table and pulling out a chair to sit in.

"Look, about earlier-" I start, but I am quickly cut off

"Now's really not the best time." he says briskly, his eyes not moving from the book

I eye him for a minute, before shutting the cover right on his hands (not hard, I'm not a monster).

His eyes snap up to meet mine, full of rage. I expected this, but it's still a little surprising to see the very un-Gilesy look on his face.

Before he can get a word out, I ask forcefully, "What's going on Giles?"

"What's going on," he tells me slowly but aggressively, opening the book back up and pushing my fingers aside, "is that I am in here trying to find a solution to our looming apocalypse, and you are in here bothering me."

"Giles," I grab the book from him and force him to look at me, "what is going on?"

When he doesn't say anything, I move my hand quickly across the table and clasp his in my own. His fingers feel like ice.

"You haven't been yourself lately." I start slowly, not breaking eye contact, "I know things have been stressful. I get it. But I'm scared. I just need to know that you're still you. We need you to be Giles. You're the only one who knows how to help us."

"Am I?" he asks angrily, but doesn't move his hand away, "I don't really know what I'm still doing here. Buffy doesn't need me anymore, she can fight for herself. Xander has never really needed me. Dawn has you, and Xander, and Buffy. Anya is gone. And you-" he stops for a minute, and his demeanor changes. His eyes grow kinder, and his face falls a little, "you haven't truly needed me for a long time Willow."

Giles moves back in his chair a little, and lets go of my hand. His head falls.

"I should have realized it sooner. I've still been controlling you and protecting you like you were a child who needed a guardian, but now I can see my fault." he looks back up at me, and I can see a single tear roll down his cheek, "I couldn't let you grow up. I couldn't accept that you were stronger than me. I just couldn't see you as anything else but that book obsessed little girl you were back in high school."

All of this hits me hard. I can't believe he thinks he really isn't needed here anymore! He's Giles! I honestly don't know what any of us could do without him. I can't even imagine a world that he doesn't exist in. He belongs here. Somehow though, I am at a loss for words.

"Giles," I begin slowly, trying to come up with something to say. Some big speech to show him just how much he means to all of us. But instead, all I can croak out is, "we need you here."

He gives a sad little smile, and pats my hand.

"I only wish that were true." he murmurs quietly, standing up

"Wait!" I call after him desperately, "It is true Giles! You have all of the wisdom. You know so much stuff that we don't about everything. Like, literally everything. Everyone here still needs you. Buffy might seem like she knows what she's doing, but trust me, she still needs her watcher. Dawn doesn't really have a father, but you're the closest thing she has. Xander, well, he definitely needs guidance and although he doesn't show it often I know how much he looks up to you. And Anya is still out there, and you were her mentor for a long time. You taught her how to be human, and I know we can still get her back. And I need you now more than ever. All of this magic stuff is super scary and difficult and you're the only one here that really understands me. I need you to help me learn." I gasp for air after my long rant, and search his eyes for any sign that he understands.

I am instead met by two large arms wrapped around me, as Giles pulls me into a huge hug.

Relief floods through every bone in my body as I hug him back, trying to tell him just how much I need him here.

After a minute, I pull back, and say, "Oh yeah also, Tommy needs a grandfather."

He gives me a small laugh, and sits back down at the table.

I give him a smile, before walking out the door to meet Xander.

"Willow!" Giles calls out, whipping his head around.

I turn to look, expecting some reprimanding for something I did.

"Thank you." Giles says very quietly, eyes brimming with tears

I give a little nod, before turning back around and walking down the small hallway that leads into the living room.

Xander is at the door waiting for me, that nervous expression still plastered on his face.

"All ready?" he asks me, holding the door slightly ajar

"Yup!" I say very pepilly before walking out of the threshold, letting the slight breeze hit my face

I hear the soft click of the door shutting behind me, and it is quickly followed by a large hand wrapping around my own.

"So where are we off to?" I ask a little suspiciously as our legs begin to trod off down the pavement

"I have an idea." he tells me, grinning

"That's all you're gonna give me?"

"Yup!"

I give a little snort, before moving my gaze up to his big brown eyes that I adore so much. I plant a quick kiss on his lips before turning forward once again.

Xander leads me down many roads, and we cross many streets and many intersections. After ten minutes pass, I am about to ask for an update, but I am cut short by the view of the park in front of me.

Tears immediately flood my eyes at the sight of it. It's truly shocking how many memories one place can hold, but this little park has millions inside of its big black gate.

This is basically where Xander and I spent our entire childhood. Birthday parties, snowball fights, relay races, chess games (yes, we were little nerds), and countless games of guess the movie and plan the future.

My eyes scan the familiar landscape, and take in the purple slide, the red rickety swings, and the tree in the corner where he first told me he loved me in the second grade.

"You like it?" he asks hopefully, looking down at my face

"I love it." I grin back up at him, tears still threatening to fall

"Wanna go in?"

I nod quickly, before wiping my eyes, and grabbing his hand to lead him through the gate. Without either one of us signaling to the other, we plop down side by side under the familiar canopy of leaves that our tree gives us. I rest my head against the trunk, and he loops his arm around me shoulders, holding me as close to him as he can.

We sit there for a minute, taking in the view, before Xander takes a big breath and sits up, looking at me straight in the eyes.

"Willow," he begins, grabbing my hand, "since the first day of Kindergarten I knew that we would be best friends forever. From that first moment where you broke the yellow crayon, to the day after that when we drew the picture of the lion together in art class, to the time where you accidentally peed your pants laughing in third grade, I knew that I always wanted to be by your side."

I can see his hands are shaking, and a funny feeling starts to grow inside of my chest. Is he doing what I think he's doing?

"I thought things couldn't get more perfect until Buffy came and kinda through our lives for a loop in sophmore year."

I let out a small laugh, although barely daring to breathe.

"Then our normal little Sunnydale lives went very upside down. We went from normal teens, to the vampire fighting Scooby Gang, and we all met our adoptive father. We were in constant mortal peril, which I have to say I think I just barely got over."

I am grinning so big now I must look like an insane clown, but Xander just continues talking. He has clearly practiced this a few times.

"Then you met Oz, and I met Cordy, and we kinda drifted apart. But like always, we found each other again."

I can see tears well up in his eyes, and I desperately want to go and brush them away, but I find myself unable to move.

"I can't even describe to you what that moment was like in our senior year when I thought you were dead. It was the worst pain I've ever felt, even though it was only for a second. But it all turned out fine, like it always does. Then I asked you out like a buffoon, and surprisingly you said yes."

Another laugh escapes my lips, this one slightly more confident then the last.

"And now here we are three years later. We have been through so much hell, but now we are here, together, and we have a baby, which I still can't get over."

My heartbeat is going 500 miles a minute, and I am shaking almost as bad as he is now.

"And now I know, just like I did that first day of Kindergarten, that we are going to be best friends forever. I never want to leave your side, not even for a moment, because I love you so goddamn much."

Then slowly, one of his hands leaves mine, and he pulls a small diamond ring out of his pocket.

Tears immediately come pouring out of my eyes, and my mouth just can't stop beaming.

"Hold on a minute Rosenberg I haven't even asked you yet." he says with a laugh, and I laugh back, much too loudly

"Willow Danielle Rosenberg," he starts, his eyes also gleaming, "will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

"Yes!" I shout almost immediately, before wrapping my arms tightly around him and pulling him into a kiss.

After a minute, he pulls back and slips the ring on to my finger.

I am openly crying now, and envelop him in another huge hug. My arms squeeze him as hard as I can, and he does the same to me.

After a minute, we settle back to our position on the tree, watching the sky.

I can feel his heartbeat slow to a normal rate, and he whispers to me quietly, "That was the most nerve racking thing I have ever done."

I laugh, and whisper back, "Did you seriously think I was gonna say no?"

"I mean, kinda." he trails off, still beaming

"If it helps, that was the sweetest and most beautiful thing I have ever heard." I reply truthfully, taking his hand and looking into his eyes.

"Well I sure hope so. It took me a while."

I grin, and kiss him quickly again, before turning back to the sky to watch the golden sun

begin to set.

It is true that after all of the hell we've been put through the last year I thought I could never be happy again. In the timespan of twelve months I got pregnant, got tortured, watched my best friend die, gave birth in a battlefield, resurrected my best friend, thought I was pregnant again, got into multiple huge fights with my adoptive father, almost burned to death, got choked, and then got engaged. It was a lot to take in.

But also, right then, sitting under that tree with my _fiance,_ I felt like my life could not be

any more perfect then it already was.

"I love you so much." I whisper into Xander's ear, watching my breath slowly ruffle his dark hair

"Not nearly as much as I love you." he replies, kissing me gently on my forehead

As I watch the sunset slowly fade away, all of my worries seem to go away with it, and a

new sense of calm fills me.

I am Willow Rosenberg. Wicca, mother, sister, daughter, and soon to be wife, and I currently love my life more than anything else in the world.

 **THE END**

 **Hi everyone! So this is really making me emotional to finish this off. While writing this story I have seen my writing grow, along with my confidence. This little world I've build means so much to me, as I hope it does to all of you. I hope that I have ended this series well, and done justice to the characters. Thank you so much for taking time to read this, and sticking with me to the end. I am forever grateful to all of you. Buffy forever y'all!**


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